Airbnb Occupancy Rate in New Orleans, United States, Data & Trends 2026

Over the analysis period June 2025 to May 2026, New Orleans averaged 54% occupancy, which sits about six points below the roughly 60% national average across US cities we track, making it one of the lower-occupancy major markets here. Yet average daily rate is €216 (about $196), comfortably above the national average near €202, and average monthly revenue reaches €3,338 (about $3,035) on roughly 193 booked nights a year.

The story is rate over volume: high seasonality of 71% confirms that earnings are concentrated in the Carnival-to-Jazz-Fest spring window rather than spread evenly. Revenue is down about 9% year over year, reflecting both softer demand and the supply pressure of 634 active listings competing for tightly clustered peak dates. The takeaway for managers is to defend ADR aggressively during events and accept thinner summer months rather than chasing year-round occupancy.

New Orleans runs almost entirely on cultural and event tourism rather than corporate or beach demand. Visitors come for the music, the food, and the calendar of festivals that stretches across most of the year, plus a steady stream of bachelor and bachelorette parties, conventions at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, and Saints and college football crowds. Guests overwhelmingly want to walk to the French Quarter, Frenchmen Street, and the streetcar line, so location inside or beside the historic core drives most of the booking value.

The flip side is a heavily regulated, structurally capped market. The city's licensing regime, density limits, and outright bans in the most desirable historic blocks mean supply is constrained and tilted toward larger group homes and a smaller pool of commercially zoned units, which is why per-property revenue here is strong even though average occupancy is not.

Where you can legally operate matters as much as where guests want to stay. Short-term rentals are banned across most of the French Quarter and the Garden District; in the Quarter, whole-home renting survives only in the small Vieux Carré Entertainment zone along the Bourbon Street blocks. That pushes most licensed inventory into the neighbourhoods just downriver and along the commercial corridors.

The Marigny and Bywater are the practical sweet spot: walkable to Frenchmen Street's live music, bohemian and design-forward, and popular with the festival crowd. The Central Business District and Warehouse District carry commercially zoned units that suit convention and game-day guests, while Mid-City offers larger homes near the Jazz Fest fairgrounds and the streetcar. Uptown and the Garden District remain prized for their architecture but are largely off-limits for whole-home STR.