Poconos PA Short-Term Rental Market 2026. What StaySTRA Data Shows for the Northeasts Most Accessible Summer Destination

StaySTRA data shows the Poconos averaging $346 per night and just under $42,000 in annual gross revenue per listing in 2026. Those numbers would not turn heads in Stowe or Park City, but here is the part worth paying attention to: the median sale price in East Stroudsburg runs around $305,000. Think of it like finding a dividend stock that nobody in the room is talking about. The yield is sitting right there in the math, and most of the Northeast investor conversation is happening somewhere else.

Forty years of data work has a way of teaching patience with markets that do not have glamorous reputations. From my desk in Santa Fe, I have watched yield-driven investors pass on markets that looked ordinary and come back wishing they had not. The Poconos are one of those places where the headline figures look modest and the underlying story is considerably more interesting once you dig into the seasonal profile, the regulatory picture, and the size of the visitor pool sitting an hour and a half up the highway from Times Square.

The Drive-To Advantage Nobody Talks About

East Stroudsburg, the main gateway into Monroe County, sits roughly 85 miles from Midtown Manhattan, about 1.5 to 2 hours by car depending on traffic. Philadelphia runs roughly 90 miles in the other direction at a similar drive time. The DC-Baltimore corridor adds another 3 to 4 hours for longer weekend trips but sends a steady stream of visitors north during peak season.

Think of the Poconos geographic position like concentric rings on a map. In the inner ring, you have New York commuters who want to get to a cabin Friday evening without checking a bag. The next ring captures Philadelphia and New Jersey travelers looking for a weekend reset. Further out, Baltimore and Washington visitors treat the Poconos as a longer drive but still prefer it to flying. No other inland leisure market in the Northeast draws meaningfully from all three rings at once. Stowe, Vermont is beautiful, but it adds 3 to 4 hours to the travel time for most of that audience. The Poconos capture all three rings simultaneously.

The combined metro population within a comfortable drive of Monroe County exceeds 25 million people. That visitor demand base is the structural foundation beneath everything else in this investment thesis.

What StaySTRA Data Shows for the Poconos

StaySTRA tracks the Monroe County area as part of its Pennsylvania short-term rental market coverage. Here are the core metrics for 2026.

Average daily rate stands at $346, up 4% year-over-year. Average monthly revenue comes in at $3,482, a 5.2% improvement from the prior year. Occupancy averaged 36% across all listing types, down 2.7% from the previous period. Before that occupancy number derails the conversation, stay with me here: RevPAR came in at $125, up 1.2% year-over-year. The market is earning more per available night even as occupancy has softened slightly. That is a healthier pattern than flat occupancy masking rate erosion.

The Market Score from StaySTRA sits at 86 out of 100 (Grade A). Two sub-scores are particularly relevant for investors doing market selection:

• Investability: 99/100. This reflects the relationship between acquisition costs and income potential relative to other markets in the StaySTRA database. A score of 99 tells you the Poconos are still in a price range where the cash flow equation can close for a DSCR buyer.
• Revenue Growth: 96/100. ADR is rising faster than occupancy is declining. The market is in an expansion phase on revenue, not a contraction one.

The top operator in the market by listing count is Evolve with 516 listings, followed by Pocono Rental Management (123 listings, rated 4.64 stars) and LiveFree Hospitality (96 listings, rated 4.78 stars). Professional property management is well established in this market.

Booking channel distribution shows Airbnb at 30.4% of bookings, VRBO at 7.3%, and 62.3% of operators listing actively on both platforms. That cross-listing rate reflects what experienced operators in drive-to leisure markets have learned: the Poconos draw NYC-native Airbnb travelers alongside Philadelphia-area family groups who often book through VRBO. Both platforms produce meaningful revenue here.

The Seasonal Revenue Profile

Here is the full 12-month picture from StaySTRA data for the Monroe County market:

Summer (June through August) produces roughly $15,950 in combined revenue, about 35% of the annual gross in just three calendar months. That is the core seasonal thesis most investors build around when evaluating Memorial Day through Labor Day markets.

The winter story deserves equal attention. December through February produces about $11,460 in combined revenue, roughly 25% of the annual total. February at 41% occupancy and $363 ADR is a productive month for a market that many people assume goes dark in winter. The Poconos have a genuine winter recreation economy built around ski resorts including Camelback Mountain, Blue Mountain, and the Jack Frost and Big Boulder areas. That recreational base keeps the calendar from collapsing the way purely warm-weather markets do from December through March.

The spring trough is real and should be factored into projections. March drops to 28% occupancy and $2,949 in revenue, the weakest point of the year. Plan for it as owner-use time or renovation window rather than fighting it with discounted rates.

The broader pattern of how this seasonal profile compares to coastal markets across multiple market types is covered in depth here: Coastal vs. Mountain STR Markets in 2026.

What to Buy: Property Type Breakdown

Not every Poconos property earns the same. StaySTRA data shows houses and standalone properties outperforming apartments by nearly 2x on monthly revenue:

• House: $3,624 average monthly revenue
• Entire Place (non-house): $3,533 average monthly revenue
• Apartment: $1,976 average monthly revenue

By ADR tier, the spread is meaningful. Luxury-tier properties average $585 per night. Professionally managed properties average $390. Standard entire-home listings come in at $351. For an investor entering with a well-positioned cabin and professional management, the professionally managed tier is the realistic benchmark for first-year projections.

The average guest books 37 days in advance and stays 3.1 nights. That booking pattern points primarily to weekend and holiday travelers rather than extended vacation guests. Revenue management that prioritizes Friday and Saturday night pricing and uses mid-week discounts to improve fill rates will generally outperform a flat-rate approach in this market.

Monroe County Regulations: What Investors Need to Know

Pennsylvania has no statewide short-term rental licensing requirement as of 2026. Each township sets its own rules, which means regulatory research in the Poconos is property-specific rather than county-wide. The tax picture applies broadly across the county; the zoning picture requires township-level verification.

Taxes: Pennsylvania levies a 6% state hotel occupancy tax on short-term rentals (stays under 30 days). Monroe County adds a 3% local tax. Major platforms typically collect and remit the state portion, but hosts may need to register separately with Monroe County for the local tax depending on platform agreements in place at the time of listing.

Barrett Township: Requires a permit for short-term rentals. The township has been examining updated rules in 2026 as the market has grown, but as of this writing it operates under a permit-and-operate framework.

Coolbaugh Township: Allows short-term rentals in residential zoning with required permits and inspections. Close to 1,000 STR licenses have been issued in the township. There is a 14-person occupancy limit per rental, which is a meaningful constraint for investors targeting large-group cabin products.

Hamilton Township: Restricts short-term rentals in Agricultural (A) zoning areas. Properties in those zones are not eligible for STR operation regardless of platform listing status. A zoning verification before closing is essential.

HOA covenants: Many Pocono communities are private or semi-private developments with governing documents that restrict or prohibit short-term rentals independently of township rules. This layer of due diligence catches more Poconos buyers off guard than zoning does. Review HOA documents before running any income projections on a specific property.

How the Poconos Compare to Other Inland Leisure Markets

Northeast investors evaluating drive-to leisure markets typically consider several alternatives. Here is how the Poconos fit into that landscape.

Sedona, Arizona is a premium desert market with strong ADR and year-round leisure demand. Entry prices in the $700,000 to $1,000,000 range and a complex local regulatory environment have compressed yields in recent years. We covered the full Sedona picture here: Sedona AZ Short-Term Rental Market 2026. Sedona earns more per night but requires a significantly larger entry check and a Southwest flight to visit your own property.

Traverse City, Michigan offers a Great Lakes wine country market with genuine seasonal strength and a loyal visitor base. The seasonal revenue profile is comparable to the Poconos. But for an investor based in the Northeast, operating a property in Michigan adds distance and travel cost that a Poconos property in the same drive corridor as your home city does not.

Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri is a strong inland drive-to market with a large summer lake economy. Its visitor pool is almost entirely Midwest-facing. For a New York or Philadelphia investor, the case for putting capital three states away is harder to make when comparable gross yields are available closer to home.

The Poconos are not the highest-yielding drive-to leisure market in the country. What they offer is a combination that is genuinely hard to replicate: a 13-14% gross yield range at a sub-$400,000 entry price, within 2 hours of the densest combined metropolitan population in the eastern United States. That particular combination does not exist in many places.

For investors using DSCR financing for a Poconos acquisition, our STR Financing Guide 2026 covers how DSCR underwriting works for short-term rental properties and what lenders typically look for in a market like this.

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.

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