Jacksonville STR Market 2026: What the Data Says About Florida’s Rising Underdog

Jacksonville’s average daily rate hit $147.97 across 3,621 active short-term rental listings this year, according to StaySTRA market data. That number will not make headlines the way Miami’s flashy rates do. But pair it with a 63% projected occupancy rate and a median home price hovering around $300,000, and you start to see why this Northeast Florida market keeps showing up in investor conversations that used to be reserved for Tampa and the Gulf Coast.

I have spent 40 years staring at spreadsheets (my colleagues in Santa Fe will tell you I prefer a good pivot table to a sunset, which is only partly true). And in all that time, the markets that rewarded patient investors were rarely the ones grabbing magazine covers. Jacksonville fits that pattern. The numbers are solid, the entry cost is reasonable, and the demand drivers are diversifying in ways that matter.

Let me walk you through what the data actually says.

Jacksonville by the Numbers: Occupancy, ADR, and Revenue

StaySTRA tracks 3,621 active short-term rental properties in Jacksonville. Here is how the core metrics stack up over the trailing twelve months:

Think of RevPAR (revenue per available room) like a batting average. It blends how often your property is booked with what guests pay per night. At $96.52, Jacksonville sits in a middle tier nationally, but that figure carries more weight when you consider the purchase price needed to generate it. A $300,000 property earning $33,763 annually is a very different conversation than a $550,000 Tampa condo producing similar net returns.

How Jacksonville Compares to Tampa and the Gulf Coast

Investors love comparisons, so here is Jacksonville stacked against two of Florida’s most popular STR corridors.

Tampa’s ADR is higher at $165.12, and Destin commands $348 per night during its peak summer season. But look at the listing counts. Tampa has nearly double Jacksonville’s inventory (6,942 vs. 3,621) and Destin packs over 7,200 listings into a much smaller geographic area. That kind of saturation compresses margins and makes it harder for any single property to stand out.

Jacksonville’s occupancy projection of 63% actually beats Tampa’s 56% for 2026. Stay with me here, because that gap matters more than it looks. A property booked 63% of the time at $148 per night generates more consistent cash flow than one booked 56% of the time at $165. Consistency is what pays the mortgage.

The entry price is where Jacksonville really separates itself. At a median of roughly $300,000 (down about 1.1% year over year per Redfin data), you are looking at purchase prices $85,000 or more below Tampa and well under half of what a competitive Destin beachfront property costs. For investors running the numbers on a StaySTRA Airbnb calculator, that lower basis translates directly into better yield percentages.

Seasonal Patterns: When Jacksonville Earns Its Keep

Every STR market has a rhythm. Jacksonville’s is less extreme than the Gulf Coast’s wild summer spikes, which is actually a point in its favor for investors who dislike volatility.

March is the clear peak: 71% occupancy and $2,347 in revenue. That spring surge comes from a combination of spring break travel, the Florida-Georgia rivalry spillover, and the simple fact that people in cold states start searching “beach weekend” around February.

September and January are the troughs, both dipping to 50% occupancy. But notice something: even in the slowest month, Jacksonville properties are still averaging $1,439 in revenue. Compare that to Destin, where January revenue drops to $1,631 despite a significantly higher ADR. The gap between Jacksonville’s peak and trough is about $900 per month. Destin’s gap between its $10,884 June peak and $1,631 January floor is over $9,000. That kind of swing makes financial planning much harder.

The NFL Factor: How the Jaguars Drive Demand

Jacksonville is one of the smaller NFL markets, which means Jaguars home games create a proportionally larger impact on local STR demand than, say, a Dolphins game in Miami.

The 2026 season brings eight home games to EverBank Stadium (with reduced capacity while stadium renovations continue). The confirmed home opponents include Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Washington, New England, Houston, Indianapolis, and Tennessee. The full schedule releases around May 2026, but several of those matchups (Philly and Pittsburgh especially) draw large traveling fan bases that book short-term rentals weeks in advance.

Hosts who track the schedule and adjust pricing for game weekends typically see 15-25% rate premiums over their baseline. The Jaguars also play two games in London in 2026, which means two fewer home dates than a standard nine-game home slate. Smart hosts will price the remaining eight weekends accordingly.

Beyond football, Jacksonville hosts the annual Florida-Georgia college football game (a massive draw), the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, and a growing calendar of conventions and music festivals. The city welcomed roughly 8 million visitors in the most recent full year, supporting 56,900 tourism jobs and generating $7.4 billion in economic impact.

Property Mix: What Investors Are Buying

StaySTRA’s listing data reveals a market dominated by smaller properties:

One-bedrooms lead the pack at nearly 20% of listings, but the two and three-bedroom segments are close behind. That relatively even distribution across the 1-3 bedroom range tells me the market has not been flooded by any single investor strategy. There is still room to differentiate.

For new investors, three-bedroom properties in Jacksonville often hit a sweet spot. They attract small groups and extended-stay guests (travel nurses are a significant demand source in Jacksonville, given the Baptist Health and Mayo Clinic presence), and they tend to command higher nightly rates than one-bedrooms without the cleaning and maintenance overhead of larger homes.

Regulatory Climate: Jacksonville Keeps It Simple

One of the biggest risk factors in STR investing is regulatory uncertainty. Cities like New York, San Francisco, and even parts of Miami-Dade County have introduced restrictions that fundamentally changed the economics of short-term rentals overnight.

Jacksonville has taken a lighter approach. Here is what the current framework looks like:

• Permit required: Yes. Land use permit through the City of Jacksonville Planning and Development Department.
• Annual fee: $150 per property.
• Zoning: Short-term rentals are permitted in all zoning districts where residential use is allowed.
• Inspections: Fire marshal inspection required before permit issuance.
• Penalties: Up to $500 per day for operating without a permit.
• License cap: None currently in place.

That $150 annual fee is about as low as it gets for a major Florida city. There is no cap on the number of STR permits issued, and the process typically takes four to six weeks from application to approval. Compare that to Miami Beach, where obtaining a legal STR permit involves navigating a moratorium and lottery system, or to the Florida Keys, where Monroe County limits transient rental licenses by zone.

Jacksonville does have a Special Committee on Short-Term Vacation Rentals within its City Council, so the regulatory picture could evolve. But for now, the framework is straightforward and investor-friendly.

The Investment Thesis for Jacksonville

Here is how I would frame the case, and I say this as someone who has watched dozens of “sleeper” markets emerge over the past four decades.

Jacksonville offers a combination that is hard to find elsewhere in Florida right now: reasonable entry prices in a market shifting toward buyers, occupancy rates that beat more expensive competitors, a growing tourism economy with multiple demand drivers (NFL, golf, medical tourism, military), and a regulatory environment that does not punish you for operating a legal short-term rental.

The risk? Jacksonville lacks the brand recognition of Miami or the Gulf Coast. Guests searching “Florida beach vacation” are not thinking of Jacksonville Beach first. That means marketing effort matters more here. You need strong listing photos, competitive pricing, and a property that gives guests a reason to choose Jax over the Panhandle.

But for investors willing to put in that work, the math tilts favorably. A $300,000 three-bedroom generating $33,000 or more annually produces a gross yield north of 11%. After expenses, that number comes down (as it always does), but the starting position is better than what most Tampa or Gulf Coast properties can offer at their price points.

Run your own numbers with the StaySTRA Jacksonville Airbnb Calculator to see how a specific property pencils out. And if you want to dig deeper into the raw data, the Jacksonville STR market page breaks down occupancy, ADR, and revenue by month and property type.

For context on how neighboring Tampa’s STR market compares, the same tools are available there too.

We do our best to keep our data accurate and up to date, but markets move fast and we are only human. Always verify current figures directly with local sources before making investment decisions.

Want the full picture before you buy? Run a free property analysis with StaySTRA’s Jacksonville calculator and see projected revenue, occupancy, and ROI for any address in the market.