Galveston Airbnb Market
Trends & Insights

Not on current data. Galveston has 7,186 active entire-home listings, and revenue per listing over the last twelve months is up 5.3% year over year. A saturating market shows falling revenue per listing as supply outruns demand. Galveston suits investors who want the highest nightly rates in Texas and a pure leisure play, and who can carry windstorm and flood insurance plus a slow winter. Occupancy is structurally lower than the big metros, so underwrite on annual revenue rather than nightly rate, and confirm the unit is licensed before it is advertised. The saturation signal on this page tracks the ratio of listing growth to demand growth each month.

Over the trailing twelve months Galveston averaged $297 per night and 43% occupancy, with July the strongest month ($8,102 per listing) and January the weakest ($1,846). July is the peak by a wide margin as beach season, cruise departures, and family vacations overlap; January is the slowest month, when many island homes sit mostly empty. Listings with a ev charger earned about 49% more than the market baseline. The five-year charts on this page show how rate and occupancy have moved month by month.

Galveston short-term rental demand comes from four segments. (1) Beach leisure: Fifty miles from Houston, Galveston Island is the default drive-to beach for the country's fourth-largest metro, and summer weekends sell out. (2) Cruise travel: The Port of Galveston is the fourth-busiest cruise port in the US; pre- and post-cruise stays with parking are a year-round booking segment that is nearly unique to this market. (3) Festivals and attractions: Mardi Gras in February or March, Dickens on the Strand in December, Moody Gardens, the Pleasure Pier, and Schlitterbahn Galveston extend demand beyond beach season. (4) Medical and bay towns: UTMB brings midweek medical stays, while Kemah, League City, and Dickinson on the mainland serve boaters, Kemah Boardwalk visitors, and Houston-area families.

When new listings grow faster than booked nights, occupancy and nightly rates compress and per-listing revenue falls. Galveston's advantage is demand diversification: beach leisure, cruise travel, festivals and attractions, medical and bay towns do not all move together, which puts a floor under occupancy. The supply and demand chart on this page tracks active listings, available nights, and booked nights over time; treat supply growth above 20% with demand growth under 10% as a signal to be more selective on neighborhood and property type.

Three things: (1) supply growth in your target neighborhood, since above 15% a year competition intensifies; (2) nightly-rate direction, because falling rates signal oversupply while stable or rising rates (currently $297 in Galveston) indicate pricing power; and (3) regulatory changes. Galveston requires every STR unit to hold a $250 annual, non-transferable license through the Rentalscape portal, with the GVR registration number shown on every advertisement and a local contact who can respond within an hour. The ordinance was comprehensively updated in November 2025 (Ord. 25-060); Hotel Occupancy Tax is 9% city plus 6% state.

In Galveston, listings with a ev charger earned roughly 49% more per year than the market baseline of $45,457. The amenity performance section on this page ranks every tracked amenity by revenue, rate, and occupancy lift so you can prioritize the upgrades that pay back fastest.