Bar Harbor vs. Southwest Harbor: Two Clerks, Two Different Years

Mount Desert Island gets described in tourism copy as a single destination, but a host trying to actually run a short-term rental there is dealing with at least two distinct towns, two distinct clerks, and two distinct sets of numbers - Bar Harbor and Southwest Harbor. Treating either the ordinance question or the revenue question as one island-wide average hides real differences a host needs to know before pricing or listing a property.

Bar Harbor's market clears $47,850 on the year, across 520 listings, a $4,686 median month, a $432 average daily rate, and 50.9 percent occupancy. Southwest Harbor's market watches $40,007, across 268 listings, a $414 average daily rate, and 47.7 percent occupancy. That's a real $7,843 gap between the two towns' years - a gap an island-wide average would quietly erase.

The right approach is to choose the clerk first, then the specific ordinance or panel that applies to a given parcel, then build the guest-facing pitch - not the reverse. This piece keeps Bar Harbor's and Southwest Harbor's numbers on their own separate, labeled lines, the way they should stay in any listing or market analysis. This is not legal advice.

Bar Harbor Runs Under Chapter 174

Bar Harbor's short-term rental activity sits behind its own local ordinance, generally referred to by its chapter number, 174 - a village and Shore Path property in Bar Harbor falls under this framework, and any host operating there should confirm current permit and cap status with the town's own desk rather than assuming rules haven't changed since the last time they checked.

Bar Harbor's $47,850 clear-year figure, drawn from 520 listings at a $432 ADR and 50.9 percent occupancy, describes Bar Harbor specifically - it should never be quoted as "the island's" number, since Southwest Harbor's own figures run meaningfully lower under a different framework entirely.

A host with a village or Shore Path property should keep the Bar Harbor market report open as the reference point for that specific parcel, rather than blending it with a neighboring town's numbers to make either look more or less favorable.

Southwest Harbor Has No Local Cap This Week

Southwest Harbor, a working-harbor town on the other side of Mount Desert Island, is currently operating without a local cap on short-term rentals - worth stating precisely as "this week," since local ordinances in this region have shown a pattern of changing, and a host should verify current status directly rather than assuming a snapshot stays accurate indefinitely.

Southwest Harbor's own market shows $40,007 across 268 listings, a $414 ADR, and 47.7 percent occupancy - a genuinely different profile from Bar Harbor's, reflecting both a smaller listing pool and a different visitor mix drawn to a working-harbor town rather than Bar Harbor's more heavily trafficked village center.

An "AirROI Low" label that may appear on Southwest Harbor's market data is a vendor-assigned market designation, not a statement about any specific town's regulatory vote or ordinance status - it shouldn't be read as commentary on Tremont's separate 2024 ordinance vote, which is its own distinct topic.

Tremont's 2024 Vote Is Not a Forever Desk

Tremont, the town that includes Bass Harbor, held its own 2024 vote on short-term rental regulation - a Bass Harbor property falls under Tremont's jurisdiction, not Bar Harbor's or Southwest Harbor's, and a host there should treat that 2024 vote as a point-in-time result rather than a permanent, unchangeable rule.

Ordinance votes of this kind are frequently revisited, and a host relying on a specific 2024 outcome should confirm current status with Tremont's own town desk before assuming it still reflects the current rule, especially given how much movement this general region has seen on short-term rental regulation in recent years.

Keeping Tremont's vote and its outcome clearly separate from Bar Harbor's Chapter 174 and Southwest Harbor's current no-cap status prevents a host from applying the wrong town's regulatory history to their own Bass Harbor parcel.

Mount Desert, Home to Northeast Harbor, Is a Third Town Entirely

Mount Desert, the town that includes Northeast Harbor, shows its own separate figure - $44,146 - sitting between Bar Harbor's and Southwest Harbor's numbers but belonging to neither. A Northeast Harbor property should be evaluated against Mount Desert's own market data, not folded into either of the other two towns' figures.

This is the core discipline this whole comparison depends on: Mount Desert Island is not one market with one clerk and one number. It's several towns, each with its own ordinance, its own clerk, and its own market year, and a property's actual figures depend entirely on which of those towns it physically sits in.

A leftover, rounded "$100,000 island year" figure that sometimes circulates in casual conversation about the island is the wrong starting number for any of these individual towns' market - it doesn't correspond to Bar Harbor's, Southwest Harbor's, Tremont's, or Mount Desert's own actual data.

Which Property Fits Which Ordinance

A village or Shore Path property in Bar Harbor: Chapter 174 applies, and Bar Harbor's own $47,850 figure is the relevant benchmark. A working-harbor property in Southwest Harbor: no local cap as of this writing, and Southwest Harbor's $40,007 figure is the relevant benchmark.

A Bass Harbor property: Tremont's jurisdiction and its 2024 vote apply, worth confirming current status on directly. A Northeast Harbor property: Mount Desert's jurisdiction and its own $44,146 figure apply.

Walking distance to a village center or harbor is a claim a host can and should verify by actually walking it, not assume from a map. Where a scarce local designation - like a VR-2 classification, where applicable - exists, it's a panel a host can request and show, not something to describe vaguely without confirming the actual designation.

Do not guess a Discount to Make the Two Years Look Closer

The temptation with a $7,843 gap between Bar Harbor's and Southwest Harbor's years is to smooth it over - guessing a 15 to 20 percent weekly-rate cut, or a 20 to 30 percent off-season remote-stay cut, to make the two towns' numbers converge into one tidier island-wide slogan. That's a fabrication, not an analysis, and it should be avoided entirely.

September reads as a peak month on both towns' calendars, while December reads as a quiet-side low - real, useful seasonal alignment points that don't require guessing a discount to make the underlying revenue numbers match. The seasonal pattern can align even while the absolute revenue figures stay genuinely different.

The honest version of this comparison keeps both towns' numbers on their own labeled lines, states the real gap plainly, and lets a host or guest understand why two towns on the same island produce two different years - rather than blending them into a single average that hides the actual clerk, the actual ordinance, and the actual gap between the figures.

Related Reading

More Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island reading already live on Crest & Cove.

• Southwest Harbor $40,007: MDI Quiet Side STR Report

• How to Market a Southwest Harbor Stay, Not Downtown

• 520 Listings and a $47,850 Year: Bar Harbor Report

• Bar Harbor STR Rules: VR-1 vs VR-2 and Chapter 174

• Marketing a Scarce Bar Harbor VR-2 Against a 9% Cap

• Buying a Bar Harbor House: The VR-2 panel Does Not Transfer

• How to Market a Bar Harbor Stay Across Peak-3 Months

• DIY vs Hire in Bar Harbor: 14% PM and a Scarce panel

• Bar Harbor Shoulder: August Peaks, January Is the Hole

• Bar Harbor 30-Night Stays: 45% Already Gate the Dates

• Who Books Bar Harbor Versus the Quiet-Side MDI Stay

• Downeast $1.33B Visitor Spend Is Not Host Year 2026

• Complete Visitor's Guide to Bar Harbor: Acadia, Not a VR-2

• What It Actually Costs to Start a Legal Bar Harbor STR

• Financing a Bar Harbor House: DSCR on a $4,686 Month

Frequently Asked Questions

What ordinance governs short-term rentals in Bar Harbor?

Bar Harbor short-term rental activity operates under the town's local ordinance generally known as Chapter 174. A village or Shore Path property falls under this framework, and any host operating there should confirm current permit and cap status directly with the town rather than assuming rules haven't shifted since a prior check. Bar Harbor's own market clears about $47,850 on the year across 520 listings, a figure that describes Bar Harbor specifically, not the whole island.

Does Southwest Harbor have a cap on short-term rentals?

As of this writing, no. Southwest Harbor is currently operating without a local cap, worth stating precisely as a snapshot in time, since regulation in this region has shown a pattern of changing. Southwest Harbor's own market shows roughly $40,007 across 268 listings, a $414 average daily rate, and 47.7 percent occupancy, a genuinely different profile from Bar Harbor's, reflecting a smaller listing pool and a different visitor mix in a working-harbor town.

How different are Bar Harbor's and Southwest Harbor's actual market years?

The gap is real and sizable. Bar Harbor clears about $47,850 on 520 listings at a $432 average daily rate and 50.9 percent occupancy, while Southwest Harbor sits at roughly $40,007 on 268 listings at a $414 ADR and 47.7 percent occupancy. That's a real $7,843 gap between the two towns' years, a difference an island-wide average would quietly erase and that shouldn't be smoothed over in a listing or a pitch.

Is a Bass Harbor property governed by the same rules as Bar Harbor or Southwest Harbor?

No. Bass Harbor falls under Tremont's jurisdiction, a separate town that held its own 2024 vote on short-term rental licensing. Tremont voted the measure down 120 to 118 in May 2024, a result that should be treated as a point-in-time outcome rather than a permanent rule, since ordinance votes of this kind are frequently revisited. A Bass Harbor property shouldn't borrow Bar Harbor's Chapter 174 framework or Southwest Harbor's current no-cap status.

What town does Northeast Harbor belong to, and does it share Bar Harbor's numbers?

Northeast Harbor is part of Mount Desert, a third town entirely, with its own separate market figure of roughly $44,146, sitting between Bar Harbor's and Southwest Harbor's numbers but belonging to neither. Mount Desert also rejected its own 2024 short-term rental measure, 134 to 72. A Northeast Harbor property should be evaluated against Mount Desert's own market data rather than folded into either neighboring town's figures.

Is there a single island-wide revenue figure that applies to all of Mount Desert Island?

No. A rounded figure near $100,000 sometimes circulates casually in conversation about the island, but it doesn't correspond to Bar Harbor's, Southwest Harbor's, Tremont's, or Mount Desert's own actual data. Mount Desert Island is several towns, each with its own ordinance, its own clerk, and its own market year, and a property's real figures depend entirely on which of those towns it physically sits in.

Should a host adjust the numbers to make Bar Harbor and Southwest Harbor look more similar?

No. Guessing a weekly-rate discount of 15 to 20 percent, or a deeper off-season discount, to make the two towns' years converge into a tidier island-wide story is a fabrication, not an analysis. The honest approach states the real $7,843 gap plainly and keeps both towns' figures on their own labeled lines, letting a host or guest understand why two towns on the same island produce genuinely different years.

Do Bar Harbor and Southwest Harbor share the same seasonal pattern?

Partially. September reads as a peak month on both towns' calendars, and December reads as a quiet-side low on both, so the seasonal shape aligns even while the absolute revenue figures behind those seasons stay genuinely different between the two towns. That alignment is useful for planning around named events, but it doesn't mean the two markets' dollar figures can be blended together.

How should a host figure out which town's ordinance actually applies to a specific parcel?

Start with the clerk, not the calendar. A village or Shore Path property answers to Bar Harbor's Chapter 174, a working-harbor property in Southwest Harbor currently has no local cap, a Bass Harbor property answers to Tremont, and a Northeast Harbor property answers to Mount Desert. Confirm which town a specific parcel sits in through the town's own office before pricing or listing, since a mailing address alone can be misleading on a shared island.

Why does it matter to keep Bar Harbor's and Southwest Harbor's numbers on separate lines in a listing or pitch?

Because the ordinance, the clerk, and the actual revenue all diverge by town, and blending them into one island-wide average hides the real gap a buyer or lender would need to see. A listing or underwriting packet that quotes Bar Harbor's $47,850 figure for a Southwest Harbor property, or vice versa, is presenting the wrong town's numbers as if they applied to the parcel in question.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Bar Harbor and Southwest Harbor sit on the same island but run under two different ordinances and two different years - a $7,843 gap an island-wide average would quietly erase. A listing built on the wrong town's number starts from.

We help Mount Desert Island hosts confirm which town's ordinance and market year actually applies to their specific parcel before it goes into a listing. Reach out at crestcove.co or (256) 998-7502. Send the live listing draft and the facts you can actually cite.

Reach out at crestcove.co or (256) 998-7502.