Lincoln, Nebraska Airbnb Market Data 2026

So what does an Airbnb in Lincoln actually earn, and is there room for one more? Those two questions run together here, because the same fact answers both: occupancy in this market hardly moves. Whether you measure a one-bedroom or a four-bedroom, inside Lancaster County or out in the small towns, the median listing books within a point or two of 29% of the year. What changes with size is the nightly rate, and that's where the whole difference lives.

That's Lincoln the city. The market Nebraska's capital anchors reaches a good deal further, though, and you'll want to keep that in mind when you read any market-wide figure. About 61% of the listings I could measure sit inside Lincoln's own limits, while the rest are scattered across south-central Nebraska, out to Grand Island 86 miles west and Hastings 90 miles southwest. So a single average blends a university and government town with a stretch of farm towns, and those two don't earn the same money.

The legal side won't be what stops you. Nebraska bars its cities from banning short-term rentals outright, and Lincoln licenses them across most of its zoning map for $250 a year, so the real work is picking the property rather than clearing the paperwork. Make sure to check the conditions against your specific address before you write an offer, since a couple of them bite hard in apartment buildings.

How Much Do Lincoln Airbnbs Earn in 2026?

Medians first, since the spread here is wide enough that any average reads better than the typical listing does. Taking every listing with enough booked nights to measure, a mid-pack one-bedroom cleared $12,575 over the past twelve months on a nightly rate of $119, and a mid-pack four-plus-bedroom cleared $30,662 on $312 a night.

Bedrooms	Median revenue	Median nightly rate	Median occupancy	Top-quartile revenue
1	$12,575	$119	29%	$15,448
2	$16,489	$154	30%	$19,195
3	$21,463	$216	29%	$25,198
4+	$30,662	$312	29%	$38,196

Medians and 75th percentiles computed from BNBCalc market data on 25 September 2026, across listings with enough booked nights to measure. Studios sit below the reporting floor and are left out.

That occupancy column is the reason I led with it. A one-bedroom and a four-bedroom book almost exactly the same fraction of the year, so the revenue gap between them, about two and a half times, is nearly identical to the rate gap of about two and a half times. Size doesn't buy you more nights in Lincoln. It buys you a higher price on the nights you already get.

That has a practical edge to it. When you're weighing a small unit against a bigger house, the bigger house isn't a bet on filling more of the calendar, which is the worry most people bring to it. It's a bet on holding a nightly rate roughly double the small unit's, in a market where the top quartile of four-plus-bedrooms clears $38,196 while the top quartile of one-bedrooms stops at $15,448. The ceiling scales with the rate too, so whatever you pay for the extra bedrooms has to come back as price rather than as nights.

The other thing the table won't tell you is how much of that spread is your own doing. A quarter of the four-plus-bedrooms beat $38,196, and the bottom of that same group sits well under half of it, which is a gap no amount of square footage explains on its own. Photography, minimum stays and weekend pricing all sit inside it.

Is the Lincoln Airbnb Market Oversaturated?

Mildly, yes. I'd sooner give you that straight than dress it up. More listings went live over the past year while the typical one booked fewer nights, which is the textbook shape of a market absorbing supply faster than it's finding demand.

Measure	Change
Active listings	up about 6%
Occupancy	down
Nightly rate	up about 21%

January to August 2026 against the same eight months of 2025, market-wide and across every listing size. I've used a partial year on purpose: BNBCalc changed how it defines these measures partway through 2025, so a full twelve-month baseline would compare one definition against another. Each measure is averaged on its own, which means they won't multiply out into revenue.

Only three rows survive that comparison. Booking lead time points one way on one set of months and the other way on another, so it's out, and I've left revenue alone entirely because a data reload in May 2026 moves it more than the market did.

Now, before you read "occupancy down" as bad news, notice what sits beside it. Nightly rates rose about 21% over the same eight months, which is a much bigger move than the occupancy slip, and it's the sort of trade a market makes when the listings coming online are priced higher than the ones already there. Hosts are collecting more per night while selling slightly fewer of them.

Whether that's a problem depends entirely on what you buy, because the occupancy floor here is low enough already, around 29% at the median, that a property which can't hold a premium rate has very little left to fall back on. So if you're looking at something ordinary, a plain two-bedroom with nothing to distinguish it, expect the crowding to land on you first. A property with a genuine reason to charge more is in a different position, and the amenity numbers further down say which reasons those are.

Don't take my word for where the trend heads next, either. The honest check sits closer to home: pull the occupancy of the eight or ten listings nearest your own address, then look again every few months, since that's the number that tells you whether you're being crowded and it turns before any market-wide figure does.

When Is Lincoln's Peak Airbnb Season?

July, and it isn't close. Lincoln runs a summer-weighted calendar that peaks hard and then falls off a cliff in January.

Month (2026)	Occupancy	Nightly rate
January	20.9%	$175
February	22.1%	$180
March	31.1%	$190
April	34.6%	$193
May	41.9%	$215
June	44.5%	$228
July	50.4%	$237
August	36.1%	$220

Market-wide monthly occupancy and nightly rate for 2026, from BNBCalc market data pulled 25 September 2026. Compare months inside this year only.

July fills half the calendar at $237 a night, while January fills a fifth of it at $175, so the peak books about two and a half times as often as the trough and charges about 36% more while doing it. That August drop is the one to plan around: occupancy falls more than fourteen points from July, and the rate only gives back seventeen dollars, which tells you demand left before pricing caught up.

A slow January isn't a Lincoln problem so much as a Nebraska one, and it's the reason a mortgage that only pencils at summer occupancy is a bad idea here. You'll want the winter months to at least cover carrying costs on their own.

Then there's the week itself, which in Lincoln is a sharper story than the year.

Day	Occupancy index	Nightly rate index
Sunday	0.90	0.94
Monday	0.77	0.91
Tuesday	0.79	0.90
Wednesday	0.85	0.91
Thursday	1.02	0.94
Friday	1.33	1.20
Saturday	1.35	1.20

Index against the market's own weekly average, where 1.00 is a typical night. BNBCalc market data, 25 September 2026.

Saturday books about 1.75 times as often as Monday, and Friday and Saturday together run about two-thirds ahead of Monday through Wednesday on occupancy. Yet the rate only climbs about a third across that same gap. Read those two lines against each other and there's an argument sitting in them: weekend demand in Lincoln is stronger than weekend pricing, so a host holding a flat rate all week is leaving the easiest money on the table. Thursday is the interesting edge, since it already books slightly above the weekly average while still priced like a midweek night.

The same split argues against a long minimum stay here, which is the mistake I'd expect a newer host to make in a market this quiet. A three-night minimum in Lincoln asks a Friday guest to buy Sunday as well, and Sunday is one of the weakest nights on the board. You'll usually do better taking the two strong nights at a real weekend price than holding out for a third night at a discount you didn't need to offer.

Nor does the winter picture argue for closing up. January still books a fifth of its nights at $175, which is thin but not nothing, and the carrying costs run whether the calendar is full or empty. What it argues for is a different guest in the off months, since a February booking in Lincoln is far likelier to be somebody working a contract than somebody on holiday, and that guest cares about a desk and a parking spot rather than a hot tub.

Where Should You Buy an Airbnb in Lincoln?

Before you pick a street, pick which half of this market you're in, because the answer changes the numbers more than any neighborhood does. Four places in the market carry enough measured listings to report, and they don't line up the way you'd guess.

Place	Median revenue	Median nightly rate	Median occupancy	Top-quartile revenue
Hastings	$19,243	$166	35%	$32,216
Lincoln	$19,007	$200	29%	$26,077
Grand Island	$17,600	$179	30%	$23,746
Fairbury	$10,188	$93	28%	$12,965

Every row uses one boundary method: US Census places for Nebraska, with Census Designated Places as the fallback. Places below ten measured listings are too thin to report and are left out. BNBCalc market data, 25 September 2026.

Read it as two columns rather than a ranking. Lincoln wins the rate column by a clear margin at $200 against Hastings' $166, yet Hastings edges it on median revenue because it holds six more points of occupancy. That's a real trade and not a rounding artifact: a Hastings property books more of the year for less money a night, which suits a buyer who wants steadier cash flow, while Lincoln suits one who'd rather own the pricing power. Fairbury is in a different business altogether. Its median nightly rate is $93, its typical unit is a one-bedroom, and I'd read that row as a warning about how thin a rural row gets rather than as an opportunity.

Inside Lincoln's own limits, the median listing clears $19,007 against $16,857 for everything outside them, and almost all of that gap is in the small units. A one-bedroom inside the city runs a $13,628 median against $11,157 outside it, while the three-bedrooms and four-plus-bedrooms are within a few hundred dollars of each other either way. So the city premium is a premium on small units near demand, and it mostly disappears once you're buying a house big enough for a group.

Grand Island is where that matters most, since it carries more measured listings than anywhere in this market except Lincoln itself and has no market page of its own on BNBCalc. If you're shopping there, the Lincoln market page is the closest published benchmark you have, and it'll read a little high for you on rate and a little low on occupancy.

There's one boundary that catches buyers out, and it isn't the city limit. Lincoln's zoning map doesn't stop at the corporate line; under Lincoln Municipal Code 27.05.010 the city and everything within three miles of it get divided into districts together. So an acreage that feels comfortably out of town can still sit inside Lincoln's zoning jurisdiction, and the first condition on the short-term rental use is holding a city license. Make sure to check that ring against a specific parcel before you assume a rural address puts you outside the ordinance, because the assumption runs the wrong way more often than people expect.

One more slice worth knowing about: roughly 9% of this market's listings fall outside any incorporated town or Census place at all, on unincorporated Nebraska land, and those carry the highest median revenue of any group I measured at $19,286. Acreages, lake places and farm properties sit in there. They're a genuinely different asset from a house on a Lincoln street, with septic systems, wells and a drive time that shapes who books them, so treat that median as a hint to go looking rather than as a number you can underwrite against.

For street-level judgment inside Lincoln, weighing the Haymarket against the university area or the south side, our guide to the best Lincoln neighborhoods to buy in does that work properly rather than in a paragraph here. What I'd take from those four rows is simpler: the in-city premium is real but narrow, so don't pay a Lincoln price for a property whose economics are really a Grand Island property's.

Which Amenities Make the Most Money in Lincoln?

A hot tub, at every size that matters. The amenity model behind BNBCalc's data has that lift at 19% market-wide, and it holds up as you go down the bedroom counts: 18% on one-bedrooms, 16% on two-bedrooms and 16% on threes. That's unusually consistent. In a lot of markets the pooled figure hides a completely different winner at one or two sizes.

Four-plus-bedrooms are where it turns. At that size the model's top amenity is a pool, worth 16%, while the hot tub's own value at that size isn't one BNBCalc publishes openly, so I can't print it for you. That's a sensible enough split if you think about who rents each one. A couple books a two-bedroom with a hot tub for a weekend; a family reunion booking a five-bedroom in July wants somewhere for the kids to swim.

Beyond those, the model picks up a signal on saunas, EV chargers, lake access, barbecues, bicycles, gyms, internet and a TV, and it keeps every one of those values behind Markets rather than publishing them. I'd rather leave a blank there than invent a number. What is worth saying is that the model throws out whatever is already sitting in almost every Lincoln listing, since a fixture everybody has can't tell a good one apart from a poor one.

Studios return nothing at all, which isn't a bug so much as a verdict: there are too few of them in this market for the model to say anything, and that silence tells you something about whether to buy one here.

Given how flat the occupancy line runs across this market, those amenity numbers carry more weight than they would somewhere with room to fill more nights. A 16% to 19% rate lift on a calendar that books 29% of the year either way is close to the only lever that moves the annual figure, short of buying something bigger.

Then there's the cleaning fee, which Lincoln hosts mostly aren't using. Only about 43% of listings in this market charge one at all, and among the ones that do, the average fee runs from about $50 on a one-bedroom up to about $149 on a four-plus-bedroom. That's a second price the guest pays without it ever touching your nightly rate or your search ranking the way the rate does, so leaving it at zero on more than half the market's listings looks like money nobody bothered to ask for.

It earns its keep in Lincoln more than it would somewhere people book a week at a time, because stays here are short and they shorten further as the property gets bigger. A four-plus-bedroom turns over faster than a one-bedroom does, which means more cleans per booked night and a cleaner you're paying either way. If you're going to absorb that cost silently, at least do the arithmetic on what a $100 fee across a season would've covered.

Is Airbnb Legal in Lincoln?

Yes, and the reason sits one level above the city, in a state law Lincoln had no say over. When Nebraska's legislature passed LB 57 back in 2019, it barred any city or village in the state from adopting a rule that "expressly or effectively prohibits" using a property this way, and that language lives in the code today at Neb. Rev. Stat. § 18-1758. What a city keeps is health and safety, its ordinary zoning and nuisance rules applied as they'd be to any comparable property, and the power to tax, while prohibition isn't on that list at all. Nebraska's statute does leave homeowners associations and condominium bylaws alone, so a private covenant can still stop you where the city can't, and you'll want to read yours before you assume Lincoln's permissiveness reaches your building.

Lincoln built its own rules in response, in three ordinances the council passed on 14 June 2021 and put into force on 20 September that year. What you need:

• A license, $250 a year, one per rental unit. Lincoln Municipal Code 5.39.030 sets the fee, the license runs a year from issue, and it transfers to a new owner without redoing the zoning test. Advertising a short-term rental in Lincoln before you hold the license is itself unlawful under 5.39.020, so listing first and applying later isn't a shortcut.
• An address in a district that allows it. Under 27.62.040 short-term rentals are a conditional use in the AG and AGR districts, R-1 through R-8, O-1 through O-3, R-T, B-1 through B-5 and H-2 through H-4. Lincoln's zoning reaches three miles past the corporate limits under 27.05.010, so a property outside the city line can still sit inside the map.
• No more than two guests per sleeping area, capped at twelve. A sleeping area is any habitable room with an operable egress window, which can include rooms that aren't bedrooms, though never hallways, kitchens or bathrooms.
• In an apartment building in R-1 through R-8, no more than 10% of the units. Every multi-family building gets at least one regardless, but if you're buying a single condo in a twenty-unit building, someone else may already hold the slot. That's the condition I'd check before anything else.
• No signs in the agricultural and R-1 through R-8 districts, and an accessory dwelling can be the short-term rental as long as it's the only one on the premises.

What the ordinance doesn't ask for is worth noting too, since hosts arriving from stricter cities keep expecting it. Lincoln sets no primary-residence requirement, no minimum distance between licensed rentals, and no annual cap on nights. It doesn't require proof of liability insurance anywhere in Chapter 5.39 either. Carry it anyway, because one bad incident without cover will cost you many times what the license ever did, but the city won't ask to see it.

Enforcement runs on complaints rather than on platform blocking. Three verified noise or disturbance complaints in one calendar year lets the city revoke the license outright under 5.39.040, while operating without one is a misdemeanor under 5.39.050, carrying a fine of $200 minimum for a first offense up to a $500 ceiling and with every day counted as its own offense. A compliant host has very little to worry about day to day, though an unlicensed one is betting a neighbor never files that first complaint, and the three-strike standard means the bet only has to lose once a year to end badly.

Then there's tax, which is where I see the most confusion, so let's take a quick break from the license for the arithmetic. Four charges land on a Lincoln booking: the city's own 4% hotel occupation tax under Lincoln Municipal Code 3.28.030, Nebraska's 5.5% state sales tax plus Lincoln's 1.75% city sales tax, Nebraska's 1% state lodging tax, and Lancaster County's 4% county lodging tax. They don't simply add up, though, since the Nebraska Department of Revenue counts Lincoln's occupation tax inside the base that the state and county charges are then applied to. On a $100 night that works out as $4.00 of occupation tax, then 7.25% sales tax and 5% lodging tax on the resulting $104, for $116.74 in total. Call it 16.7% on top of your rate, and note that our own Lincoln short-term rental regulation guide currently adds the rates flat and lands at 14.5%, which the Department's own worked example says is the wrong way to do it.

Ok. Back to who pays what. All of it comes off the guest rather than out of your revenue, and Airbnb collects most of it for you: its Nebraska page covers the state and local sales taxes and the state and county lodging taxes. Lincoln's own 4% isn't on that list, and Lincoln Municipal Code 3.28.030 makes the operator liable for it whether or not it was ever collected from the guest, with a return due by the 25th of the following month. That's the one to diarize. For the filing mechanics, our Nebraska lodging tax guide goes step by step, and the Lincoln regulation guide covers the license application document by document.

One more thing on the county line. Because this market runs across several Nebraska counties, the county lodging rate isn't constant inside it: Lancaster and Hall County both charge 4%, Adams County charges 3% and Jefferson County 2%. If you're underwriting a property in Hastings or Fairbury on Lincoln's numbers, the tax line moves with you.

How Does BNBCalc Track the Lincoln Airbnb Market?

That guide handles the paperwork. Every number above came out of BNBCalc Markets instead, the research tool that sets one short-term rental market beside another so you can tell which deserves your money. Open any market and it splits the calendar by night of the week, so whether a place lives on its weekends or holds up midweek is something you can check rather than assume. Lincoln's Saturday runs so far ahead of its Monday that I'd want that split in front of me before writing any pricing rule here.

How Do You Estimate Airbnb Revenue for a Lincoln Property?

Go market first and property second, because that order stops you falling for a house in a market that can't carry it. The Lincoln market page holds the current bedroom bands and the seasonality, and the Nebraska ranking by gross yield tells you what staying in state costs you or wins you. Compare it against the Omaha market data too, since that's a genuinely separate market with its own licensing regime and not an extension of this one. Only then put the specific address into BNBCalc, using the purchase price you'd really pay and the expenses you'd really carry.

Three thresholds I'd hold a Lincoln deal to:

1. Winter has to stand on its own. January books a fifth of the calendar. If the deal needs July occupancy to cover the mortgage, it isn't a deal, it's a seasonal bet.
2. The nightly rate has to be defensible. Occupancy won't rescue a weak rate here, because the median listing books about 29% of the year whatever size it is. Ask what specifically makes a guest pay your price rather than the one two streets over.
3. Check the building before the block. In an R-1 through R-8 apartment building the 10% cap can disqualify a unit outright, and finding that out after closing is an expensive way to learn the ordinance.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does an Airbnb make in Lincoln, Nebraska?

It depends almost entirely on size. Measured in September 2026, the median one-bedroom in this market cleared about $12,575 over the previous twelve months, the median two-bedroom about $16,489, the median three-bedroom about $21,463 and the median four-plus-bedroom about $30,662. The top quarter of four-plus-bedrooms cleared more than $38,196. Median occupancy sits around 29% at every size, so the difference between those tiers is nearly all nightly rate rather than nights booked.

Do you need a license to run an Airbnb in Lincoln?

Yes. Lincoln Municipal Code Chapter 5.39 requires a license from the city for each short-term rental unit, at $250 a year, valid for one year from issue. It's unlawful to advertise a short-term rental in Lincoln without holding one first. The application asks for the unit's address and dimensions, proof you possess the property by deed or lease, an emergency contact who can reach the property within 45 minutes, and your certification that the unit meets the city's smoke alarm, carbon monoxide and egress standards.

What taxes do you pay on a short-term rental in Lincoln?

Four charges apply to a Lincoln booking: the city's 4% hotel occupation tax, 5.5% Nebraska state sales tax, 1.75% Lincoln city sales tax, 1% Nebraska state lodging tax and 4% Lancaster County lodging tax. The Nebraska Department of Revenue counts the city occupation tax inside the base for the others, so a $100 night carries about $16.74 rather than a flat sum of the rates. Airbnb collects the state and county lodging taxes and the sales taxes. Lincoln's own 4% stays the operator's responsibility, due by the 25th of the following month.

Can you run an Airbnb in a Lincoln apartment building?

Sometimes. In the R-1 through R-8 residential districts, Lincoln Municipal Code 27.62.040 allows no more than 10% of the dwelling units in a multi-family building to be licensed as short-term rentals, though every building is entitled to at least one regardless of that cap. So a small building can always license one unit, while in a larger one the slots may already be taken. Check with the city before you buy a condo specifically to rent nightly, because the cap applies to the building rather than to you.

Is Lincoln a good place to buy an Airbnb?

It suits a particular buyer. Prices are low by national standards and the state bars cities from banning short-term rentals, so entry is cheap and the legal risk is small. Against that, the market books only around 29% of the year at the median regardless of property size, listings grew about 6% over the eight months to August 2026 while occupancy went the other way, and January runs at a fifth of capacity. It rewards a property with a defensible nightly rate and punishes an ordinary one, so the question isn't whether Lincoln works but whether your specific property does.

What is the best month for Airbnbs in Lincoln?

July. Across 2026 the market reached 50.4% occupancy in July at a $237 median nightly rate, against 20.9% at $175 in January. June and August sit either side at 44.5% and 36.1%. The August drop is steeper than the rate decline, which means demand thins out before pricing adjusts. Within the week, Friday and Saturday book roughly two-thirds more often than Monday through Wednesday, while nightly rates rise only about a third.

---

A market where occupancy holds steady across every property type is telling you something useful, even if it isn't flattering. It means the calendar isn't the variable you control, so the effort that goes into chasing a few more booked nights is better spent on whatever justifies a higher price for the nights you'd have filled anyway. That's a harder discipline than it sounds, because filling the calendar feels like progress and raising a rate feels like risk. In a market that books three nights in ten no matter what you do, only one of those is actually moving the number.