West Palm Beach Airbnb Nets $25,953 After Costs on a House

The gross short-term rental premium is 108% for a 3-bed house in West Palm Beach (Palm Beach County), but after Airbnb fees, insurance, utilities, property tax, and the Florida tourist development tax, the picture compresses substantially. This article covers both a 3-bed house and a 2-bed apartment because the cost structures differ materially: apartments add HOA fees that houses do not pay, but they start from a far lower entry price of around $176,022 versus $689,950 for the median house.

West Palm Beach sits in a premium Florida market where appreciation potential and yield trade against each other. Gross short-term rental yields of 10.1% look strong against the long-term rental national median of 5.3%, but the premium-market dynamic means higher absolute costs across every line item: insurance is elevated for hurricane exposure, property tax on a near-$700K median house is meaningful in dollar terms even at a modest 0.8% rate, and the combined 6.0% state sales tax plus county tourist development tax adds another line of cost.

A 3-Bed House Nets $25,953 on Short-Term Rental After Every Cost

The self-managed short-term rental case for a median 3-bed house in West Palm Beach converts $69,351 of gross revenue into $25,953 of net operating income. The equivalent long-term rental generates $31,008 gross and $10,162 net. The table below assumes self-management on both sides, which matches the dashboard default.

The short-term rental tax figure includes the state sales tax plus the county tourist development tax at a combined 6.0%. Airbnb collects and remits much of this in Florida, but the economic cost still sits with the host because it is deducted from payout. Other booking platforms charge the host differently: Vrbo runs around 5%, Booking.com around 15%, and direct bookings avoid platform fees entirely.

Airbnb Fees and Insurance Eat the Largest Share of the House Premium

The biggest drags on the 3-bed house short-term rental case are Airbnb fees at $10,749 and insurance at $9,779. Short-term rental insurance runs higher than landlord insurance because it covers guest liability and contents, not just the structure. Maintenance is also higher for short-term rental at $9,905 versus $6,727 for long-term rental, because the short-term rental figure includes furnishing replacement over the typical useful life. Utilities are a cost the host absorbs for short-term rental guests but passes through to tenants on long-term rental.

Property tax of $5,840 is identical on both sides because it attaches to the property, not the rental strategy. That is a fixed drag in a high-priced market: even at 0.8%, the absolute dollar cost is meaningful because the sale-price base is large.

A 2-Bed Apartment Starts Cheaper but HOA Fees Shift the Math

A 2-bed apartment in West Palm Beach sells for around $176,022, a fraction of the house median. Lower entry price means lower absolute costs across most line items, but apartments add a material HOA fee of $2,637 per year that houses do not pay. HOA appears in both columns of the apartment table because it is a property-level cost owed regardless of whether the unit is rented short-term or long-term.

Note: Many West Palm Beach condominium associations restrict or ban rentals shorter than 30 days. Before buying an apartment for short-term rental use, verify the specific HOA bylaws and any minimum-stay rules. Florida state law preempts city-level bans enacted after June 2011, but it does not preempt private HOA restrictions.

The Apartment Runs on a Lower Absolute Income but a Comparable Net Yield

On short-term rental, the house delivers 3.8% net yield versus 10.8% for the apartment. On long-term rental, the house yields 1.5% net versus 10.1% for the apartment. The gap between property types is narrower than the gross numbers suggest because the apartment's HOA fee closes some of the cost advantage a smaller property would otherwise enjoy.

In absolute dollar terms, the house produces $25,953 short-term rental net income versus $19,015 for the apartment. Investors choosing between the two are really choosing between capital deployment (a far larger cheque for the house with more absolute cash flow) and leverage flexibility (a smaller cheque for the apartment that frees capital for diversification). These are city medians. Individual West Palm Beach ZIP codes diverge significantly: the dashboard shows suburb-level data for every bedroom count and property type.

Short-Term Rental Breaks Even at 28% Occupancy

Short-term rental gross revenue matches long-term rental annual rent at 28% occupancy. This is the gross break-even floor, not a target. The Palm Beach County median occupancy sits at 59%, comfortably above the break-even line, which is why the short-term rental premium of 108% over long-term rental persists on the gross side. The break-even figure is useful because it tells you how far occupancy could fall (through regulation, competition, or softer tourism) before the short-term rental strategy stops adding revenue versus simply long-term renting the property.

View West Palm Beach in the dashboard → Free preview · every bedroom count and property type

Hiring a Manager Cuts About a Fifth Off Short-Term Rental Net Yield

The tables above assume self-management, which matches the dashboard default. Hiring a professional short-term rental manager for a 3-bed house adds around $13,870 in management fees (roughly 20% of gross revenue is the typical local market rate), pulling net yield down from 3.8% to 1.8%. This is a significant step down and should be modelled explicitly if you plan to outsource guest communication, cleaning coordination, and dynamic pricing.

For long-term rental, hiring a letting agent at typically 9% of rent adds around $2,998 annually, dropping long-term rental net yield from 1.5% to 1.0%. Long-term rental management is lighter because the workload is concentrated at lease-up and renewal rather than per-guest.

Florida Has No State Income Tax and Depreciation Is a Major Shield

Florida has no state income tax, so rental income is only subject to federal income tax. The biggest federal shield for residential investment property is the 27.5-year depreciation schedule: the depreciable building value of $551,960 (approximately 80% of the sale price, with the remainder allocated to land) divides into an annual deduction of $20,071. Short-term rental income is generally reported on Schedule E unless services cross into hotel-like territory (daily cleaning, meals), in which case Schedule C and self-employment tax apply. The dashboard calculates after-tax figures; the tables above are pre-tax net operating income.

Closing costs and transfer taxes apply at acquisition and are not reflected in the annual operating tables. Check with your Florida real-estate attorney for a current estimate based on your purchase price and loan structure. Data reflects market conditions as of April 2026.

For background on how these costs are modelled and sourced, see the market score methodology and the data sources. To run scenarios against live pipeline numbers, explore rental data in the dashboard. For a Broward County comparison on property-type yield differences, see Pompano Beach (33069) Yields 7.9% in Broward County, Roughly Double the Coast, and for the same cost analysis applied to Broward County, see After All Costs, Broward County's Short-Term Rental Edge Shrinks to 2.3%.

This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial or legal advice. Regulations and market conditions change frequently. Verify current rules with local authorities before making investment decisions.