Aurora, Colorado Airbnb Market Data 2026

Thinking about hosting in Aurora, Colorado, and wondering what a listing there brings in? A city rule answers part of that before any revenue figure does: across most of its residential zones, Aurora will license a short-term rental only in the home its host lives in, so in those neighborhoods you can't buy a house and run it as a full-time Airbnb. If you already live in Aurora, or you plan to move into the place you buy, hosting for part of the year is open to you, and the question becomes what those nights are worth.

There's a second thing to know before the numbers. BNBCalc doesn't measure Aurora separately. It files the city under the Denver market, which runs from Aurora's eastern edge west through Denver and Jefferson County into the mountains of Park and Clear Creek counties, and only about 5% of that market's active listings sit inside Aurora's city limits. That's why BNBCalc's Aurora market page shows the Denver market's figures: they describe the whole metro, not the city.

So I went back to the listings themselves, split out the ones inside Aurora's city limits (the city reaches into Arapahoe, Adams and Douglas counties), and set them beside the rest of the Denver market. As of BNBCalc's October 2026 listing data, the typical Aurora listing earned about $23,700 over its past 12 months, roughly a quarter less than a typical listing elsewhere in the metro, even though Aurora's homes tend to be bigger.

How Much Do Aurora Airbnbs Earn in 2026?

Among the listings inside Aurora's city limits, the median one took in $23,690 over its past 12 months, at a median nightly rate of $227, and was booked on 33.8% of the year's nights. Across the rest of the Denver market, the median listing took in $31,789 at $273 a night, booked on 34.5% of its nights. Those figures come from BNBCalc's October 2026 listing data, and they're medians across every active listing in each group, which is why they sit below the Denver averages you'll see elsewhere on BNBCalc.

BNBCalc market data, October 2026	Inside Aurora	Rest of the Denver market
Median annual revenue	$23,690	$31,789
Median nightly rate	$227	$273
Median occupancy (share of the year's nights booked)	33.8%	34.5%
Top-quarter annual revenue (75th percentile)	$33,702	$46,430
Median bedrooms	3	2
Homes with three or more bedrooms	58%	46%

Inside Aurora means inside the US Census place boundary for Aurora city; the rest of the Denver market is every other active listing in the same market. Each listing's revenue, rate and occupancy cover its own past 12 months.

Read the two columns side by side and the pattern is plain: Aurora's guests book roughly as many nights as guests anywhere else in the metro, but they pay less for each one, so the city's listings finish the year about a quarter behind. The bottom two rows make that gap even odder, because Aurora's listings skew larger: more than half have three or more bedrooms, against fewer than half elsewhere, so the fairer comparison is size against size.

Bedrooms	Aurora median revenue	Aurora top quarter	Rest of market median revenue	Aurora median nightly rate	Rest of market median nightly rate
1	$15,499	$18,657	$20,667	$129	$170
2	$19,948	$23,595	$27,605	$163	$233
3	$27,733	$33,688	$37,799	$240	$331
4+	$36,625	$46,689	$51,943	$336	$461

BNBCalc market data, October 2026. Studios inside Aurora are too thin to measure reliably, so they're left out.

Each row compares the same size of home inside and outside the city, and Aurora trails at every one of them, by between about a quarter and 30%. A four-bedroom in Aurora ($36,625) earns slightly less than a three-bedroom elsewhere in the Denver market ($37,799), and even a top-quarter Aurora three-bedroom ($33,688) falls short of the middle three-bedroom outside the city.

Where does the gap come from? Almost entirely from the nightly rate, since Aurora's rates run roughly a quarter to 30% under the rest of the market's at each size. Occupancy barely moves: a one-bedroom in Aurora books 39.4% of its nights against 36.5% elsewhere, and only the four-bedroom-plus homes fall behind, at 29.0% against 33.1%. My guess is that's location more than effort, because guests choosing a big house for a group tend to pay up for one near downtown or the mountains, while Aurora sits east of Denver, on the side of the metro farthest from the mountains.

That occupancy figure divides booked nights by the full year, nights the host blocked off included, so the median Aurora listing was booked 123 nights over its year and a top-quarter one 143. Keep that in mind when you get to the city's rules, since whole-home rentals in Aurora are capped at 180 days a year, a limit that sits above where three in four Aurora listings already land.

So if you're picturing a three-bedroom you'd live in and rent out part of the year, about $27,700 is the middle of the road in Aurora and about $33,700 marks the top quarter. For comparison, the Denver market page in BNBCalc Markets shows higher figures, because it covers the whole metro and opens on typical earners rather than the median of every listing.

Is the Aurora Airbnb Market Oversaturated?

No, at least not from new competition, though demand softened too. Across the wider Denver market, the average number of active listings from October 2025 to September 2026 ran about 14% below the 12 months before, yet occupancy slipped about 4% over the same stretch, so the remaining hosts didn't fill the nights the departed ones gave up. There's no month-by-month count for Aurora on its own, which is why the answer has to come from the metro.

Denver market, all listings	October 2025 to September 2026 vs October 2024 to September 2025
Active listings (monthly average)	Down about 14%
Occupancy	Down about 4%
Average nightly rate	Up about 19%
Typical home purchase price	Down about 2%

BNBCalc market data, market-wide across every performance tier and bedroom count. Each change is relative, a percentage of the earlier figure rather than percentage points, and each measure is averaged on its own, so they don't multiply into one another.

Each row sets the metro's latest 12 months against the 12 before them, and the story sits in the first and third rows: far fewer listings, charging a lot more per night.

Rates did the moving instead, though not all of that rise is hosts charging more for the same home. The Denver market lost small homes faster than large ones, which lifts the average rate on its own, and once I adjusted for that shift toward bigger homes, like-for-like rates across the metro still rose around 12%, which is still a big year for pricing.

What can the Aurora listings add? They can't tell you whether the city's own slice grew or shrank, since each listing's figures cover only its own past year. They do show that Aurora's hosts aren't fighting over fewer bookings than anyone else, since their listings booked 33.8% of their nights against 34.5% across the rest of the market. If you want to know whether that still holds when you're ready to list, check the occupancy of comparable homes near yours every few months.

When Is Aurora's Peak Airbnb Season?

That occupancy figure swings a lot through the year. Across the Denver market, the latest 12 months ran from a low of about 32% of nights booked to a peak of 57%.

Month (Denver market)	Occupancy	Average nightly rate
October 2025	45.9%	$265
November 2025	36.2%	$252
December 2025	36.7%	$286
January 2026	33.4%	$233
February 2026	32.1%	$222
March 2026	41.6%	$235
April 2026	42.5%	$242
May 2026	49.0%	$289
June 2026	55.0%	$335
July 2026	57.0%	$351
August 2026	51.2%	$305
September 2026	51.2%	$294

BNBCalc market data for all listings across the Denver market; compare months within this table only.

Read down the occupancy column for how full the metro's calendars ran each month, and down the rate column for what guests paid per booked night. Most of these monthly figures run above the medians in the earnings section because they're a different measure: they're the whole market's month-by-month averages, while each median divides a listing's booked nights by the whole year, and the typical Denver-market listing blocks off about 110 nights a year. June and July are the peak, at 55.0% and 57.0% of nights booked and $335 and $351 a night. February is the trough at 32.1% and $222, with January close behind, so a July night runs about 58% more than a February one.

December is the odd one out across the metro, though. Its occupancy sits near the winter low, yet its rate of $286 beats every other month from October through April, which is the holidays pushing prices up without filling many more nights. If you're planning which months to block for your own use, the winter stretch costs you the least.

The week has a shape too. Across the Denver market, a Saturday night books about 49% more often than a Tuesday and at a rate about 23% higher, with Friday close to Saturday on both counts. If I were hosting from my own home now and then, I'd keep the weekends open. If you're weighing a home on the Denver side of the line instead, our Denver market data breakdown covers the city next door.

Where Should You Buy an Airbnb in Aurora?

Because in most of Aurora's residential zones the house has to be your own home, this is mostly a question about which part of Aurora to live in if you'd like to host from it. The short answer is that the ZIP code matters, though less than the size of the house does.

Aurora ZIP code	Median annual revenue	Median nightly rate	Median occupancy	Top-quarter revenue	Median bedrooms
80011	$28,647	$244	35%	$36,373	3
80019	$26,469	$258	29%	$33,494	3
80016	$24,417	$239	29%	$56,560	3
80018	$23,707	$213	35%	$33,693	3
80010	$23,325	$170	38%	$30,286	2
80017	$22,405	$283	28%	$26,287	4
80012	$21,985	$194	33%	$37,062	3
80013	$21,023	$199	33%	$30,034	3
80014	$20,565	$222	27%	$24,976	2

BNBCalc market data, October 2026, for listings inside Aurora's city limits only, grouped by 2020 Census ZIP code areas, with ZIP codes too thin to measure reliably left out.

I grouped the in-city listings by ZIP code and ranked the rows by median annual revenue, and the top-quarter column shows what a strong listing in each ZIP code reaches. From top to bottom, the medians span roughly $8,000, while the bedroom medians in the earnings section span more than $20,000, so a bigger home moves your number further than a better ZIP code does. Every row also sits below the $31,789 median for the rest of the Denver market.

A few rows are worth a closer look:

• 80011 leads on the median. Most of its listings sit in Hoffman Heights and Jewell Heights or Sable-Altura-Chambers in north Aurora, and it pairs one of the higher rates with one of the higher occupancies on the list.
• 80019, at the north end of the city out by Denver International Airport, comes second. High Point at DIA and Green Valley Ranch East take in most of its listings, and they lean on a high nightly rate while booking fewer nights than most.
• 80016, in southern Aurora around Saddle Rock, Tollgate Crossing and Heritage Eagle Bend, has the widest spread. Its median is mid-pack, yet its top quarter reaches $56,560, the highest of any ZIP code, so a strong listing there can earn more than twice what its typical neighbor does.
• 80010, in the city's northwest corner around North Aurora and Del Mar Parkway, has the lowest nightly rate on the list and the highest occupancy.

Keep in mind that the thinnest of these rows will move between data updates. For which streets inside them suit guests, and why, our guide to Aurora's best neighborhoods for an Airbnb does that street-level judging.

Which Amenities Make the Most Money in Aurora?

Whichever part of town you pick, what you put in the house can move revenue too. So which extra pays? Across the Denver market, a hot tub adds about 26% to annual revenue in BNBCalc's amenity model, set against a comparable listing without one. The model compares listings after accounting for size, location, reviews and the other amenities, so that figure isn't a big house's advantage in disguise.

Across the same Denver listings, the model finds a measurable lift from seven other amenities, a sauna, allowing pets, an EV charger, a gym, a barbecue grill, a TV and lake access, and you'll need a BNBCalc Markets subscription to see how big each one is.

Remember that all of these are metro-wide figures. With so many of Aurora's listings sized for groups, I think the hot tub is the one to price out first, since it's the kind of extra a family or a group of friends filters for.

Is Airbnb Legal in Aurora?

Yes, though in most residential zones only in the home you live in. In Aurora, renting a home out for less than 30 days counts as a short-term rental, and the city's own short-term rental FAQ, updated in October 2025, sets out who can run one:

• In most residential zones, it has to be your primary residence. That's the place you usually return to and live while your license is active, and you can only have one. A house you own without living in it can't operate as a short-term rental in most of Aurora's residential zones.
• You need a license before you list. That's a combined General Business and Lodger's Tax License, which cost $45 for the first two years and $27 to renew for two more, as of the October 2025 FAQ. Once it's issued, the license number goes in every online listing.
• One booking at a time. You can rent several rooms or the whole house to one group, but not to different groups on the same night.
• Whole-home rentals stop at 180 days a year. The city's March 2024 FAQ put it as 180 days in any 365-day period, and going past the limit may show the home isn't your primary residence after all.

You don't have to be home while guests stay, as long as you're away temporarily, and renters can host too if their landlord agrees. Check your HOA or lease first either way, since the city lists their permission as a condition of hosting. City licensing and code inspectors can also ask for proof that the home is your primary residence, such as a notarized affidavit, a driver's license, voter registration, tax documents or utility bills.

What if you want a property you won't live in? Unfortunately for investors, that route is mostly closed. A home that isn't owner-occupied counts as a boardinghouse, which is only allowed in higher-density residential or mixed-use zones, while an owner-occupied home may qualify as a bed and breakfast in certain residential areas, which can require a conditional use permit approved by the Planning Commission. The city has said it will review whether to allow investment properties in the future, but nothing has changed as of its October 2025 FAQ.

Taxes land on the guest's bill. Aurora charges an 8% lodger's tax on short-term stays, and adding the state, RTD, cultural district and county pieces, the city's own lodger's tax page puts the total a guest pays at 12.25% in the Arapahoe County part of Aurora, 12.75% in the Adams County part and 13% in the Douglas County part. Platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO usually collect and pay these for you, though the city still holds you responsible for making sure they're paid. For the state side of that, see our Colorado short-term rental tax guide.

As for enforcement, the city works through licensing and tax audits, code enforcement responding to complaints, and municipal court summonses and fines. And since the rest of the Denver market falls under other cities' and counties' rules, Denver's included, don't assume anything you've read about those carries over to an Aurora address. For the license steps, fees and contacts in one place, our Aurora short-term rental regulation guide walks through each one.

How Does BNBCalc Track the Aurora Airbnb Market?

With the license steps covered, the numbers are the other half of the decision, and the Denver trends and month-by-month figures I've cited are BNBCalc's counts across every listing in the Denver market, the data that BNBCalc Markets, BNBCalc's scoreboard of short-term rental markets, is built on. Markets itself opens on each market's typical earners, which is why the numbers you'll see there come out different, and the Aurora, ZIP code and bedroom medians are another cut again: BNBCalc's listing data trimmed to the city line. The listing map in BNBCalc Markets is the nearest you'll get to seeing those listings yourself: zoom in until Aurora's streets fill the screen, and the panel beside the map recalculates annual revenue, occupancy and nightly rate for only the listings in view, each set against the Denver average. With Aurora's ZIP code medians spread about $8,000 apart, that's the view I'd open before settling on a part of town.

How Do You Estimate Airbnb Revenue for an Aurora Property?

Your first stop is the BNBCalc Calculator. Enter an Aurora address and it projects revenue, occupancy and nightly rate from up to 50 comparable listings, then models your expenses, financing and returns, and for a US property with at least four comps, its AI Underwriter can pick the closest matches for you. Once you have that projection, three Aurora-specific checks are worth running against it:

1. Confirm the address can be licensed. In most of Aurora's residential zones it has to be the home you live in, and you'll want your proof of residence ready before you count on any income from it.
2. Look at where the comparables sit. Aurora homes earn less than same-size homes across the rest of the metro, so comps inside the city give you the fairest read, and the per-bedroom medians in the earnings section show where your home's size usually lands.
3. Plan your calendar around the 180-day limit. If you'll rent the whole home, the days you rent it have to fit inside 180 a year, so weigh the summer months, when rates run highest, against the time you'll want the house for yourself.

If you already host in Aurora, the Airbnb Listing Optimizer is the tool for the next step: it audits your live listing, reading up to 100 guest reviews and up to 50 nearby listings, and ranks the fixes worth making first. And for lenders and investors who push many addresses through their own software, the BNBCalc API returns the Calculator's property analysis (revenue, occupancy, nightly rate, comparables and cash flow) on usage-based billing.

If you don't know where to invest yet, or you want a property you won't live in, use BNBCalc Markets to compare other markets before you commit, starting with Colorado's markets ranked by gross yield.

So, How Much Can an Aurora Airbnb Make?

In BNBCalc's October 2026 listing data, the median Aurora listing earned about $23,700 over its past 12 months, a three-bedroom about $27,700, and a strong three-bedroom about $33,700, each behind its counterpart elsewhere in the Denver market. The shortfall is almost all in what guests pay per night. Since in most of the city the home has to be your own, the useful next step is to run your address through the BNBCalc Calculator and see where it falls against those medians.

A rule that limits who can host changes what hosting is for. When a city keeps most of its neighborhoods for hosts who live in the home, the question stops being what a purchase returns and becomes what a few spare months of the house you already live in are worth.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does an Airbnb make in Aurora, Colorado?

The BNBCalc Calculator projects revenue for a specific Aurora address from comparable listings nearby. As a benchmark, BNBCalc market data from October 2026 puts the median listing inside Aurora's city limits at $23,690 a year, with a median nightly rate of $227 and 33.8% of nights booked. The top quarter of Aurora listings earned $33,702 or more. The rest of the Denver market ran higher, with a median of $31,789, mostly because its nightly rates are higher.

Does BNBCalc have Airbnb data for Aurora on its own?

BNBCalc Markets tracks Aurora as part of the Denver market rather than as a separate market, so the market-wide figures shown for Aurora are Denver's. About 5% of the Denver market's active listings sit inside Aurora's city limits. BNBCalc's Aurora-only medians come from those listings, as of October 2026, and BNBCalc Markets' listing map lets you zoom in on the listings in any part of the city.

Which Aurora ZIP code earns the most on Airbnb?

In BNBCalc market data from October 2026, 80011 leads Aurora's ZIP codes on median annual revenue at $28,647, followed by 80019 at $26,469. 80016 has the highest top-quarter revenue, $56,560, so its strongest listings reach well past the rest. Every Aurora ZIP code's median sits below the $31,789 median for the rest of the Denver market. BNBCalc Markets' listing map shows the listings behind each of these.

What size Airbnb earns the most in Aurora?

In BNBCalc market data from October 2026, revenue rises with size inside Aurora: the median one-bedroom earned $15,499, a two-bedroom $19,948, a three-bedroom $27,733 and a home with four or more bedrooms $36,625. Each trails the same size elsewhere in the Denver market, mainly on nightly rate. The BNBCalc Calculator shows what your home's size and address are likely to earn.

When is Airbnb peak season around Aurora?

BNBCalc market data for the Denver market, which includes Aurora, puts the peak in June and July 2026, when 55.0% and 57.0% of nights were booked at average rates of $335 and $351. February was the slowest month, at 32.1% occupancy and $222 a night. Across the market, Saturday nights book about 49% more often than Tuesdays and at rates about 23% higher.