Hocking Hills Short-Term Rental Income: How Much Can You Really Earn?

Updated August 2026

"How much can I earn?"

It's one of the first questions almost every investor asks me when considering a Hocking Hills short-term rental, and understandably so. Whether you're searching for Hocking Hills Airbnb income or trying to determine what a specific vacation rental could earn, it's also a question that can't be answered very well with one market-wide average.

A single number can tell you what the average Hocking Hills short-term rental earns. It can't tell you what a particular property is capable of earning.

That depends on the size of the property, location, amenities, condition, setting, guest capacity, management, and, perhaps more than many buyers realize, how well the property is marketed.

Rather than give you one number, I want to break the data down by bedroom count, look at how amenities affect revenue, and compare some actual Hocking Hills properties.

Some of the most interesting examples aren't the largest properties in the market at all. In fact, several smaller cabins significantly outperform properties many times their size.

The goal is to understand not only what Hocking Hills rentals earn on average, but what actually creates the difference between a property earning $60,000 a year and one earning $200,000 or more.

One important note before we get into the numbers: the revenue figures throughout this article represent gross booking revenue, meaning what a property collects from guests before operating expenses. Revenue and profit are two very different numbers, which I'll address later in the article.

The Hocking Hills Short-Term Rental Market Baseline

As of August 2026, the average Hocking Hills short-term rental earns approximately $60,975 per year.

That's a useful starting point, but only a starting point.

That average combines everything from small one-bedroom cabins designed for couples to large luxury lodges capable of hosting 20 or more guests. When you separate properties by size, a much more useful picture begins to emerge.

Average Revenue by Bedroom Count

The table below reflects data for entire-place properties, meaning full houses rather than shared rooms, apartments, or condos. The properties also include at least air conditioning and a hot tub, which is close to a baseline expectation for a competitive Hocking Hills vacation rental.

Bedrooms	Avg. Annual Revenue	Occupancy	Avg. Daily Rate
1 bedroom, 1+ bath	$52,700	59%	$259
2 bedroom, 1+ bath	$53,880	54%	$290
3 bedroom, 2+ bath	$64,477	48%	$392
4 bedroom, 3+ bath	$90,448	45%	$598
5 bedroom, 3+ bath	$122,000	46%	$777
6 bedroom, 3+ bath	$147,000	44%	$1,000

There are a couple of important patterns in these numbers.

First, both annual revenue and average nightly rate generally increase with bedroom count. Larger properties can accommodate larger groups, which allows them to command substantially higher nightly rates.

But notice what happens to occupancy.

Occupancy actually tends to decrease as properties get larger.

A one-bedroom cabin may book more nights throughout the year, but at a considerably lower nightly rate. A six-bedroom lodge may book a smaller percentage of available nights, while each individual reservation can be worth several times as much.

That doesn't necessarily make one strategy better than the other. They are simply different investment models.

A smaller cabin can require a lower initial investment and appeal to a broad pool of couples and small groups. A large lodge may require substantially more capital and carry higher operating costs, but it also has the potential to generate significantly more revenue from each reservation.

The right fit depends on your purchase budget, operating costs, risk tolerance, and overall investment strategy.

One methodology note: these figures are market-wide averages calculated across many different properties within each bedroom category. They are not measurements from a single property. Because of that, multiplying the average daily rate by the average occupancy rate will not produce the exact average annual revenue shown in each row.

How Amenities Affect Short-Term Rental Revenue

Bedroom count gives us a useful baseline. Amenities are where the numbers become even more interesting.

Looking specifically at five-bedroom properties with at least three bathrooms, the difference is significant. Properties with air conditioning and a hot tub average approximately $122,000 per year. Add a sauna, and the average increases to approximately $161,000. Properties with a sauna and a pool average approximately $185,000.

That does not mean adding a sauna to a particular property will automatically generate another $39,000 in annual revenue, or that installing a pool guarantees another $24,000. These are different groups of properties being compared with one another, not the same property measured before and after an upgrade.

What the data does suggest is something I see repeatedly in this market: guests are willing to pay more for properties that offer an experience, not simply a place to sleep. The right amenities can help create that experience.

What High-Performing Hocking Hills Rentals Actually Look Like

Market averages are helpful, but real properties make the numbers much easier to understand. Here are three Hocking Hills rentals performing at very different levels and some of the characteristics that help explain their revenue.

Large Luxury Lodge: Approximately $229,900 in Annual Revenue

8 bedrooms | 4 bathrooms | 50% occupancy

This property sits on more than 20 wooded acres, offers more than 6,000 square feet of living space, and accommodates up to 24 guests. Its amenity list looks more like a private resort than a traditional cabin: a heated in-ground pool, hot tub, theater room, lower-level recreation area with pool table and air hockey, covered patio with a built-in bar, fire pit, and outdoor games. It is also located close to one of the region's popular hiking destinations.

This is a good example of a property generating premium revenue through a combination of scale, location, guest capacity, and amenity density. Large groups aren't simply renting a place to stay. They're renting a destination where they can spend much of the trip together at the property.

Mid-Large Lodge: Approximately $209,000 in Annual Revenue

7 bedrooms | 6 bathrooms | 43% occupancy

This property sleeps up to 20 guests and is located near one of the area's most-visited natural attractions. Amenities include an indoor heated pool, hot tub, entertainment room with a pool table, large dining area, and outdoor fireplace deck.

There's another reason I like this example: it doesn't look like what many buyers picture when they hear the words "Hocking Hills cabin." Its exterior is distinctive and nontraditional, yet it performs near the top of the market.

That's a useful reminder for investors. A property does not necessarily need traditional log-cabin architecture to perform well here. Location, space, amenities, guest experience, and marketing can matter considerably more than fitting a particular aesthetic.

Traditional Hocking Hills Cabin: More Than $104,000 in Annual Revenue

2 bedrooms + large sleeping loft | 2 bathrooms | sleeps 6 | 56% occupancy

This property is especially useful as an example because it represents a style of cabin that is very common throughout the Hocking Hills market.

It's a traditional log cabin with the warm, cozy vacation-home feel many visitors associate with the area. The floor plan is also one I see regularly in cabins throughout Hocking Hills: a bedroom on the main level, a large sleeping loft upstairs, and a finished walkout lower level with another bedroom and a second living and game area.

The property sleeps only six guests and sits on approximately six private, mostly wooded acres. It also includes an indoor sauna.

The cabin sold earlier in 2026 and has generated more than $104,000 in annual gross revenue with approximately 56% occupancy.

This is important because six-figure revenue in Hocking Hills is not limited to six-, seven-, and eight-bedroom luxury lodges. A smaller, traditional cabin with a good layout, privacy, desirable amenities, and strong positioning can also produce significant revenue. Properties with this general style and floor plan are commonly found throughout Hocking Hills, including among properties that come onto the resale market.

When Special Features Beat Square Footage

This is where Hocking Hills gets especially interesting from an investment standpoint.

Bedroom count matters. Amenities matter. Location matters. But sometimes a property has something that simply doesn't fit neatly into a spreadsheet.

I see this repeatedly in this market: a smaller property with a genuinely special feature can significantly outperform a much larger property that doesn't give guests a compelling reason to choose it.

A Two-Bedroom Cabin Earning More Than $182,000

One of my favorite examples is a two-bedroom, two-bath cabin of just over 1,100 square feet, built in 2024. In 2025, it generated more than $182,000 in gross revenue.

Put that into perspective: the average six-bedroom property in the data above earns approximately $147,000.

So how does a two-bedroom cabin outperform the average six-bedroom lodge? The answer isn't square footage. It's the property itself.

The cabin sits on approximately three acres with a creek running through the property. A long covered walking bridge crosses the creek, there are small waterfalls created by natural rock formations, and the entire setting feels private and wooded.

The cabin is newer and well finished, and it includes an outdoor sauna. But there's no pool. No theater room. No enormous game room. What it has instead is something much harder to duplicate: a memorable setting.

It is also marketed exceptionally well. The photography doesn't simply document bedrooms and bathrooms. It captures what it would actually feel like to stay there. That distinction matters.

A Small Modern Cabin Earning More Than $114,000

Another property makes essentially the same point for a completely different reason.

This is a small modern cabin with a clean, box-style design, a dramatic wall of windows overlooking the woods, a large rear deck, and a fire pit. It's publicly marketed as a two-bedroom, although functionally it is closer to a one-bedroom cabin with a sleeping loft, and it has only one bathroom.

Unlike the previous example, the land itself isn't extraordinary. There are no creeks, waterfalls, or unusual acreage features. What this property has is great proximity to hiking, distinctive modern design, and excellent marketing.

It generates more than $114,000 per year with approximately 86% occupancy, an exceptional performance level for a property of its size.

These two cabins couldn't be more different. One stands out because of its land and setting. The other stands out because of its architecture, location, and presentation. But they illustrate the same investment lesson:

You don't necessarily need the biggest cabin in Hocking Hills to generate strong short-term rental revenue. A property with a feature guests genuinely remember, whether that's exceptional land, architecture, views, privacy, location, or an unusual experience, combined with strong marketing can sometimes outperform what bedroom count alone would predict.

That is one of the reasons I caution buyers against evaluating Hocking Hills investment properties strictly by price per square foot or number of bedrooms. You're not only buying square footage. You're buying the experience you can eventually market to a guest.

Don't Judge an Investment Property Only by What the Current Owner Earns

When buyers are evaluating an existing Hocking Hills short-term rental, one of the first things they often ask for is the property's financial history.

What did it earn last year? What about the year before? What was its occupancy? Can we see the booking and revenue history?

Those are absolutely worthwhile questions. Historical financial information can tell you a lot about how a property has performed. But it doesn't necessarily tell you what that property is capable of earning. That's an important distinction.

A property's historical revenue reflects not only the property itself, but also how the current owner chose to use, manage, price, maintain, and market it.

Some owners use their cabins frequently themselves or block off desirable dates for friends and family. Others aren't trying to maximize revenue at all. Their goal may simply be to offset the cost of owning a vacation home.

In other cases, a property may be underperforming because of outdated décor, poor photography, weak marketing, ineffective pricing, or a listing that simply doesn't showcase the property well.

Management can make a difference, too. An owner trying to self-manage a Hocking Hills property from several states away may not have the time to give pricing, marketing, guest communication, and the property itself the attention they require. A property management company can also vary significantly in how aggressively and effectively it manages and markets a rental.

For all of those reasons, seeing that a cabin earned $60,000 last year does not automatically mean you're looking at a $60,000-a-year property. Historical performance tells you what happened under the current ownership and operating strategy. Comparable properties can help you understand what may be possible.

When I'm evaluating a property with an investor, I want to know what similar rentals nearby are doing. How are properties with a comparable bedroom count, guest capacity, location, acreage, setting, and amenity package performing? Then I want to look closely at the properties that are outperforming their competitors. What are they doing differently?

Maybe their professional photography makes the property feel like an experience rather than simply another cabin. Maybe the interior design is more current and distinctive. Perhaps they've added a sauna, game room, outdoor living space, or another amenity guests actively search for. Their location or setting may be better. Their pricing, listing presentation, or overall management may simply be stronger.

That doesn't mean every underperforming cabin can be transformed into a top-performing Hocking Hills Airbnb. Some limitations, such as location, lack of privacy, difficult access, an undesirable setting, or a poor layout, may be difficult or impossible to change.

The goal isn't to assume you can make any property earn whatever number you want. The goal is to evaluate both its historical performance and its realistic potential.

Instead of asking only "What did this property earn last year?", I encourage investors to also ask: "What are comparable properties earning, why are the best ones performing better, and what could realistically be improved here?"

That gives you a much more complete picture of the investment you're actually considering.

Hocking Hills Short-Term Rental Seasonality

Hocking Hills is a year-round tourism market, but revenue isn't evenly distributed throughout the year.

July and October are two of the strongest months for Hocking Hills short-term rental occupancy and revenue. July benefits from peak summer travel, while October brings fall foliage, one of the biggest tourism draws in Hocking Hills.

Spring through early fall generally remains fairly steady between those peaks.

January and February tend to be the slowest months, which isn't surprising given the colder weather, but the market doesn't simply shut down for winter. The region's annual winter hiking event brings visitors every January, and cabins continue booking throughout the colder months, just generally at lower levels than during peak season.

For an investor, that seasonality is important when evaluating cash flow. A property's annual revenue shouldn't be expected to arrive evenly in twelve equal monthly installments.

Gross Revenue Is Not the Same as Profit

This distinction is extremely important.

Every revenue number in this article represents gross booking revenue, or what a property collects from guests before expenses. That is not the same thing as profit.

Property management, cleaning, lodging and other applicable taxes, insurance, utilities, repairs, maintenance, supplies, landscaping, hot tub or pool service, and other operating costs all affect what an owner ultimately keeps. Financing can change the picture even further.

A property generating $150,000 in gross annual revenue and a property generating $150,000 in actual profit would be two very different investments.

I'll be covering the expense side of Hocking Hills short-term rental ownership in a separate guide, including management, cleaning, taxes, insurance, and other common operating costs.

The Bottom Line

So, how much can a Hocking Hills short-term rental earn?

There isn't one honest number.

The market data gives us useful benchmarks. Revenue generally increases with bedroom count, guest capacity, and amenities. Larger properties can command substantially higher nightly rates, while smaller properties often achieve higher occupancy.

But those aren't the only factors that matter.

Land, privacy, location, design, amenities, setting, guest experience, management, and marketing can all change the revenue potential of an individual property, sometimes dramatically.

That's also why I don't believe a buyer should evaluate a Hocking Hills investment property based solely on a market-wide average or the current owner's historical revenue.

If you're considering a specific cabin, the more useful question isn't simply "How much does the average Hocking Hills Airbnb make?" It's "What could this particular property realistically do?"

Answering that requires looking at the property itself: its size, location, setting, amenities, competition, historical performance, comparable rentals, operating costs, and the experience it can offer guests.

That's where the real investment analysis begins.

Important notice: This article is for general informational purposes only and is not financial or investment advice. Revenue figures represent estimated or actual gross booking revenue and do not reflect operating expenses, financing costs, or net profit. Individual results can vary significantly based on location, property condition, amenities, management quality, marketing, market conditions, and other factors. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Data was last reviewed August 12, 2026.

Considering a Hocking Hills Investment Property?

I help buyers look beyond the listing photos and evaluate the factors that can actually influence a property's short-term rental performance, including size, amenities, land, location, competition, historical performance, and realistic revenue expectations for that specific property.

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Jennifer Kitchen

REALTOR® | MBA | RSPS

Thinking about investing in Hocking Hills? Whether you're buying your first short-term rental or expanding your portfolio, I'm happy to answer your questions and help you evaluate properties with confidence.

Contact Me