The Surge Score™
One number that tells you how hard a property can work as a short-term rental.
See scored listingsSample Property
Houston, TX
Why we built it
Most short-term rental tools score a market. They average an entire zip code and tell you Houston is "good" or Galveston is "seasonal." That is not actionable for someone deciding between two houses on the same street.
Zip-code averages cannot tell you that a house two blocks from a hospital cluster books medical stays year-round while an identical house two miles away does not. They cannot tell you that a 4-bedroom near a stadium fills every game weekend while a 2-bedroom next door sits empty. The difference is not the market. It is the property.
The Surge Score™ rates the individual property. It combines the location's demand pull, the property's physical characteristics, and how well those two things match each other into a single 0–100 rating that you can compare across any address in Texas.
The five pillars
Every Surge Score is built from five independent dimensions. No single pillar can carry a weak property to a high score.
Demand Gravity
How much overnight demand actually reaches this address. We map and tier hundreds of proven revenue drivers across Texas, from medical centers and stadiums to beaches, universities, convention centers, nightlife districts, military bases, and seasonal mega-events. Then we measure how strongly each one pulls guests to this specific property. Distance matters more than people think, and it matters differently for a beach than for a bar.
Earning Capacity
What the house itself can produce: how many guests it sleeps, the amenities that move nightly rates in Texas heat, and the property types that consistently book best in each submarket.
Guest Fit
A property near a world-class medical center wins with a different setup than a beach house or a game-weekend house. The score rewards properties built for the guests their location actually attracts and flags mismatches between the property and its demand profile.
Demand Resilience
One demand source is a risk. Several are an income stream. Properties fed by a mix of year-round, event, and seasonal demand score higher than one-season wonders. This pillar measures how well a property's revenue holds up when any single demand source slows down.
Reality Check
Rental restrictions, registration requirements, HOA risk, and flood exposure. A property that cannot legally or practically operate is scored accordingly, including an automatic disqualification for confirmed rental bans.
Calibrated against real revenue
The Surge Score™ is not a theory. Its weightings are calibrated against the actual last-twelve-month revenue of thousands of Texas short-term rentals and re-validated as new performance data arrives. When a score says "Strong," it is because properties with similar profiles are actually earning at that level.
Every scored listing on Surge also shows its top nearby demand drivers with distances, so you can see exactly what is pulling guests to that address. The score is the summary. The demand map is the proof.
Hospitals, stadiums, beaches, universities, military bases, event venues, and more across Texas.
From metro cores to coastal and rural submarkets, scored and continuously monitored.
Real last-twelve-month performance data from active short-term rentals across Texas.
Reading the score
The Surge Score™ maps to five tiers. Each tier tells you what to expect from a property's rental potential at a glance.
A rare combination of high-demand location, strong property fit, and diversified demand sources. Well-run listings here consistently outperform their market.
Location and property both pull their weight. A well-run listing here should outperform its market.
Solid fundamentals with room for optimization. Performance depends on pricing strategy and guest experience execution.
Limited demand reach or property-location mismatch. Can still work as a rental, but expectations should be calibrated.
Significant headwinds from location, demand concentration, property limitations, or regulatory risk. Price may still make the deal work, but the location is not doing you any favors.
Every scored listing also displays its top nearby demand drivers with distances, connecting the score to the location's specific demand profile.
What the Surge Score™ is not
Not tied to asking price. The Surge Score measures short-term rental demand at a specific location — it has no relationship with the property's list price, sale price, or valuation.
Not a revenue guarantee or an appraisal. The Surge Score rates potential, not a promise.
Not financial, legal, or investment advice. Actual operator results vary with pricing strategy, management quality, and market conditions.
Not a substitute for your own due diligence. Users should independently verify HOA and deed restrictions, local short-term rental regulations, and any other factors that affect a property's viability.
Frequently asked questions
Distance to demand drivers decays fast. Two blocks can make a measurable difference in how strongly a hospital, stadium, or entertainment district pulls overnight guests to one address versus another. The Surge Score accounts for this at the property level, not the zip code level.
No. The Surge Score methodology is proprietary. But every scored listing shows its top nearby demand drivers with distances, so you can see exactly what is pulling demand to that address.
Scores are recalculated as new demand drivers open or close and as new short-term rental performance data becomes available. This means scores reflect current market conditions, not a static snapshot.
Not necessarily. A lower score means the location's demand pull or the property's capacity is limited compared to higher-scoring properties. But purchase price changes the math. A property with a moderate score at the right price can still deliver strong returns.
No. The Surge Score measures short-term rental demand at a specific location and how well the property fits that demand. It has no relationship with the listing price, sale price, or property valuation. A high score means strong STR potential — whether that translates into a good investment also depends on what you pay for it.
The Surge Score is a proprietary branded methodology developed by Surge. The trademark indicates that the scoring system, its methodology, and the Surge Score name are the intellectual property of Surge.
Every Surge listing carries a Surge Score™
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