Cottonwood Falls, KS STR Report 2026: $22,862 on 18 Listings

Aug 19

14 min read

Updated: Aug 27

1873 Chase County Courthouse, front elevation on the Cottonwood Falls square

Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, published a typical year of $22,862 across 18 listings for the May 2025 through April 2026 vintage, with ADR at $247 and occupancy landing at 27.7 percent. That's the number a host or a buyer should be underwriting from for this specific market - not a rounder figure borrowed from Wichita, the origin city an hour up K-177, and not a blend with Emporia's larger, later-vintage sample.

The same file shows year-over-year revenue up 11.2 percent while supply grew 38.5 percent - genuinely good news for existing hosts, paired with a real signal that more competitors are arriving faster than the market is expanding to absorb them. Both directions matter to a 2026 pricing or purchase decision, and neither cancels the other out.

This is not legal advice, and it won't stretch an 18-listing sample into a forecast it can't support. What follows is a full read of what the published year, the occupancy calendar, the stay pattern, and the listing mix actually say about Cottonwood Falls right now, plus where Emporia's own separately vintaged year belongs in the same ledger - as a labeled neighbor, never a substitute.

The Year: $22,862 on 18 Listings, May 2025 Through April 2026

The full picture on this sample: typical revenue $22,862, ADR $247, occupancy 27.7 percent, RevPAR $70. Average stay length runs 2.4 nights with a booking lead time of 68 days, which points to a market where guests plan a short prairie visit a couple of months out rather than book a long stay on short notice.

Peak-3 is November, May, and July, with November as the clear peak month. January is the sample's named hole, with February and April sitting in the same low stretch. That's a genuinely specific calendar shape - a fall peak alongside two summer months, not the single unbroken summer season a casual guess about a rural Kansas market might assume.

Every other figure in this report sits downstream of that one number. RevPAR at $70 is what ADR and occupancy produce together on this specific market, not a separate metric to chase - a listing can move it by improving either half of that equation, and this published sample gives a host a real baseline to measure any change against.

None of these figures are a promise about next year. They're a description of the year that already happened on 18 listings, which is exactly the kind of sample a host should want before setting a rate or a buyer should want before underwriting a purchase, rather than a friendlier number pulled from Wichita or averaged with a neighboring county seat.

N Equals 18 Is a Tiny market - Read Every Percent With That in Mind

Eighteen listings is a genuinely small sample, and that size changes how every percentage in this report should be read. One listing changing its calendar, its minimum-stay setting, or its management can move occupancy or the 30-plus-night share by several points on a market this size - a swing that would barely register in a 100-listing market.

That doesn't make the published $22,862 or 27.7 percent occupancy wrong. It makes them exactly what they are: the honest, current read on this specific listing set, not a number smoothed across enough listing stock to absorb one or two outlier listings without moving.

A host comparing their own single property against this average should treat the comparison loosely for the same reason - a well-photographed, well-priced listing on a tiny market like this one can outperform the average by a wide margin, and a poorly run one can underperform it by just as much, without either result saying much about the town itself.

The practical takeaway: quote $22,862 and 27.7 percent occupancy as this market's real published year, but hold every individual percentage inside this report a little loosely, and never treat a one-listing swing on a future scrape as proof the whole market shifted.

This is also why a strong Council Grove or Strong City year matters so much for context that neither figure appears anywhere in this report - both are missing from this pass, and a packet that invents either town's typical year to round out a regional picture is doing exactly the kind of guessing this small-sample caveat exists to prevent.

November, May, and July Carry This Desk - Not a Harvest Guess

November stands as this market's single strongest month according to the published extract, with May and July rounding out a genuinely specific peak-3 that spans both a fall month and two warm-season months - not the flattened "summer only" assumption a generic prairie-town guess might default to.

January is the named hole, with February and April sitting in the same low stretch. That's a direct, honest counterpart to the November-May-July peak-3, and it should shape when a host schedules maintenance, personal-use blocks, or an honestly discounted rate rather than a rate that quietly assumes fall-festival traffic in a month the sample shows is genuinely soft.

A Symphony Signature Event that ran through June 14, 2025 is a real, dated attraction, but June itself doesn't appear in this sample's peak-3 - a single-weekend hook is not the same thing as a T12 money month, and a listing that prices all of June at event-weekend rates is pricing against what this sample actually shows.

The practical rule: build a calendar around the confirmed November-May-July peak-3, treat November as the single best rate on the calendar, and give January - alongside February and April - an honest discount rather than dressing any of them up as a leftover-harvest or festival-adjacent peak this sample never named.

Revenue Up 11.2 Percent, Supply Up 38.5 Percent - Both Numbers Matter

Year-over-year revenue on this sample rose 11.2 percent - genuinely good news, and worth citing directly when a current host is deciding whether last year's pricing approach is still working. That's real growth on a market this small, not a rounding artifact.

At the same time, supply grew 38.5 percent, meaning new listings arrived far faster than revenue did. A host reading only the 11.2 percent figure would miss that a meaningfully larger pool of competing listings is now splitting a revenue pie that grew at roughly a third of that pace.

Neither number should be read alone. Rising revenue with much faster-rising supply usually means the market overall is healthy enough to attract new entrants, but any individual listing - especially a new one - should expect more competition for the same occupancy pool than the raw revenue growth figure alone would suggest.

The practical rule: treat $22,862 as a real, currently-growing typical year, but underwrite a brand-new Cottonwood Falls listing against the 38.5 percent supply growth figure too - a new entrant is competing against a meaningfully larger field than existed the prior year, not against a static 18-listing snapshot.

What a 2.4-Night Stay and a 68-Day Lead Say About This Guest

A 2.4-night average stay paired with a 68-day booking lead time describes a specific kind of guest: someone planning a short prairie weekend well in advance, not a same-week impulse booking and not a long, monthly-style stay. That pattern should shape both minimum-stay policy and the calendar-management rhythm a host builds around a Cottonwood Falls listing.

Half this sample's listings set a one-night minimum and half set a two-night minimum - an even split that suggests hosts here haven't converged on a single answer yet, and a new listing has real room to test either setting against the market's actual 2.4-night average rather than copying a neighbor's minimum by default.

Zero listings on this sample are set to a 30-plus-night minimum. That's a direct, useful fact for anyone tempted to build a remote-worker or extended-stay pitch here off Wichita's origin-city label alone - the published booking pattern shows short, well-planned weekend stays, not a monthly-stay product this market's data actually supports.

The practical rule: price and market this listing for the short prairie weekend the sample actually shows - courthouse walk, preserve visit, Flint Hills drive - rather than guessing a longer-stay or remote-work angle the 2.4-night stay length and zero 30-plus-night settings don't currently back up.

Reading Emporia as a Labeled Neighbor, Never a Blend

Emporia, in Lyon County, publishes its own year: $13,350 typical revenue across 123 listings, with 25.6 percent occupancy - but on a later vintage, August 2025 through July 2026, not the May 2025 through April 2026 window this Cottonwood Falls sample covers. That mismatched vintage alone is reason enough to.

The two towns' peak-3 calendars don't even fully agree - Emporia's is May, October, and November, while Cottonwood Falls confirms November, May, and July. They share November and May, but Emporia's October strength and Cottonwood Falls' July strength are genuinely different signals, and averaging the two would blur both.

Emporia's far larger 123-listing sample and lower $13,350 typical revenue also make it a poor stand-in for a Cottonwood Falls underwriting exercise on their own terms - a bigger, softer-performing market on a different calendar window isn't a rounding-friendly substitute, it's simply a different market.

The right use of Emporia's published figure is as a labeled, dated comparison only - useful context for a regional Flint Hills discussion, never a number that quietly stands in for Cottonwood Falls' own $22,862 typical year or 27.7 percent occupancy on a buyer packet or pricing memo.

Who's Actually Running These 18 Listings

Entire-home listings make up 88.9 percent of this sample, and houses specifically account for 77.8 percent - a market dominated by whole-house stays rather than shared rooms or smaller apartment-style units, consistent with a small prairie town where standalone houses are the more common housing stock to begin with.

Capacity of eight or more guests is the single most common tier at 27.8 percent of the sample, suggesting a meaningful share of listings here are built for groups or multi-family gatherings rather than solo travelers or couples - worth reflecting directly in how a listing photographs and markets its space.

Superhost status covers 72.2 percent of this sample, a genuinely high share for a market this size, while professionally managed share is unknown on this pass - no confirmed national manager brand shows up in this data, and the honest read is to treat this desk as independently run until a later scrape says otherwise.

The practical takeaway for a new or existing host: expect to compete against a field of mostly independent, mostly Superhost-status, entire-house listings sized for groups - not against a portfolio of professionally managed units with scale-built pricing tools, which changes what actually differentiates one listing from another here.

A two-bedroom configuration is the dominant size on this sample even as the eight-plus-guest capacity tier leads at 27.8 percent - together suggesting a meaningful share of listings here are two-bedroom houses that sleep well beyond the bedroom count through sofa beds, bunk rooms, or similar setups, worth calling out directly in listing copy rather than leaving a guest to guess at true capacity from bedroom count alone.

What the City Clerk's Desk Adds to This Ledger

A revenue sample is only half of what a host or buyer needs to underwrite a Cottonwood Falls listing. City of Cottonwood Falls Clerk Tina Andrews sits at 220 Broadway, reachable at (620) 273-6666, for city-hall-side questions - but a dedicated short-term rental permit specifically has not been confirmed on this pass.

That unconfirmed-permit status is itself a fact worth carrying into any underwriting exercise, not a gap to quietly fill in with a guess. A host or buyer should call the clerk's desk directly to confirm current permit requirements before assuming this market's $22,862 typical year comes with no compliance cost attached.

None of that changes the published $22,862 typical revenue or 27.7 percent occupancy - those numbers describe what 18 listings actually earned and booked. The clerk's desk simply sits next to that ledger as the compliance side of the same underwriting exercise, and a packet that only carries the revenue half is carrying half the picture.

The practical rule: treat 220 Broadway and (620) 273-6666 as the first call for any Cottonwood Falls compliance question, and don't assume a confirmed or unconfirmed permit status either way until that call has actually been made.

Why Wichita Is the Drive, Not the Product

Wichita shows up as the origin city in this sample - the metro area an hour to an hour-ten away via K-177 that guests are driving from, not a stand-in for this listing's own identity. A packet that sells a Wichita-adjacent house on a Cottonwood Falls driveway is selling the wrong product to the wrong guest.

Cottonwood Falls is the Chase County seat and gateway to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, home to the 1873 Chase County Courthouse and sitting on the Flint Hills Scenic Byway along K-177 - genuine, specific, walkable local identity that has nothing to do with Wichita's own downtown or convention-center draw.

A guest who searched for Cottonwood Falls specifically is asking for that courthouse, that preserve, and that Flint Hills drive - not a generic prairie caption stapled onto what's actually a Wichita commuter pitch. Marketing copy that leads with the metro area's name is marketing to the wrong search intent entirely.

The practical rule: name the courthouse, the preserve, and the Flint Hills byway directly in listing copy and photography, keep Wichita in the driving-directions section only, and never let the metro area's name substitute for this specific 851-person county seat's own identity.

Photographing the Peak-3 for the Right Guest

November photography should lean into late-fall prairie light on the Flint Hills Scenic Byway and a clear shot of the 1873 Chase County Courthouse - the specific visual pitch that matches this market's single strongest month, rather than a generic autumn stock photo that could describe any Midwestern town.

May and July photography can share some of the same courthouse-and-preserve territory, but each should still carry its own distinct feel - May leaning into spring green across the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, July leaning into open summer sky along K-177 - since both months are genuine peak-3 members deserving their own premium-rate visual story, not a single recycled photo set.

January, February, and April photography, by contrast, should set honest expectations for a quieter, off-season county-seat visit - useful for the guest genuinely looking for a slow prairie getaway at a discounted rate, rather than implying festival-season energy this sample's own numbers don't support during that stretch.

The practical rule: build a genuinely distinct photo set for the confirmed peak-3 months and a separate, honestly quieter set for the January-February-April low stretch, rather than one generic prairie photo set reused with different seasonal captions across all twelve months.

What a Buyer Underwriting a Purchase Should Model Differently

A buyer evaluating a Cottonwood Falls purchase should start from the same $22,862 typical year and 27.7 percent occupancy this report has already laid out, but should weight the 38.5 percent supply growth figure more heavily than a current host might - a buyer is underwriting a listing that doesn't exist yet, competing against a field that's expanding faster than revenue is.

The 11.2 percent year-over-year revenue growth is real and worth citing, but it describes 18 listings taken together, not any single address. A specific property's actual condition, its distance from the courthouse square, and its photography quality will all move its realistic performance up or down from that average far more than the town-wide growth trend alone.

Unconfirmed permit status matters more to a buyer than to a current host with an existing listing history, since a purchase decision often hinges on knowing compliance costs before closing rather than discovering them afterward. A call to City Clerk Tina Andrews at 220 Broadway, (620) 273-6666, belongs in the due-diligence file, not the post-closing to-do list.

The practical rule: a buyer should treat $22,862 as a ceiling to test a specific property against, not a floor to expect automatically, and should confirm permit requirements and the 38.5 percent supply-growth context before finalizing an offer, not after.

What This Sample Should Actually Change About a Pricing Calendar

The most direct use of this report is a calendar built around a confirmed three-month peak - November, May, and July - rather than one flat rate applied all summer or a discount applied by default every fall. November earns the single highest rate on the calendar; May and July follow close behind; January, February, and April get honest reductions.

The 38.5 percent supply growth figure is the number that should temper any pricing plan built purely on last year's average. A new listing entering this specific listing set should expect meaningfully more competition for the same occupancy pool than the 11.2 percent revenue growth figure alone might suggest.

The 68-day lead time is a planning tool as much as a market description - it tells a host roughly how far out a peak-month calendar should already be showing bookings before treating a gap as a pricing problem rather than a normal part of this market's booking curve.

None of this replaces confirming permit requirements directly with the city clerk's desk at 220 Broadway. But for a host or buyer without a listing history yet on this market, $22,862 on 18 listings, 27.7 percent occupancy, a three-month peak, a named hole, and a market growing supply faster than revenue is the honest starting point - not a friendlier number borrowed from Wichita or blended with Emporia.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Cottonwood Falls host year on this sample?

Cottonwood Falls published about $22,862 typical revenue on 18 listings for the May 2025 through April 2026 vintage, with ADR near $247 and occupancy near 27.7 percent. RevPAR sits near $70. That's a full-year average across a small sample, so treat it as an underwriting baseline rather than what any single peak weekend will produce on its own.

Should a packet blend Wichita into this Cottonwood Falls number?

No. Wichita is the origin city guests are driving from, about an hour to an hour-ten via K-177, not a substitute market. This market's $22,862 typical year and 27.7 percent occupancy describe 18 Cottonwood Falls listings specifically, and a Wichita metro figure has no place standing in for that number.

Can Emporia's published year describe Cottonwood Falls?

No. Emporia publishes its own year, about $13,350 on 123 listings at 25.6 percent occupancy, on a later, mismatched vintage (August 2025 through July 2026) with a different peak-3 (May, October, November). Keep it on a clearly labeled separate line for comparison only, never averaged into this market's own numbers.

Which months make up Cottonwood Falls' peak-3?

November, May, and July, with November as the single strongest month. January is the named hole, with February and April sitting in the same low stretch. Price November at the top rate, give May and July strong secondary rates, and give the January-February-April stretch an honest discount instead of a flat summer rate.

Does the Symphony Signature Event make June a peak month here?

No. That event ran through June 14, 2025, and was a genuine weekend hook, but June doesn't appear in this sample's confirmed peak-3 of November, May, and July. Pricing all of June at event-weekend rates overstates what this specific extract actually shows for that month.

How reliable are the percentages on an 18-listing sample?

Read them as directionally honest but genuinely sensitive to small changes, since one listing shifting its calendar or minimum-stay setting can move a percentage meaningfully on a market this size. The published $22,862 and 27.7 percent occupancy are the real current read, just one worth holding a little loosely given the small sample.

What does the 38.5 percent supply growth figure mean for a new listing?

It means new listings are arriving much faster than revenue is growing, up 11.2 percent, so a new entrant should expect meaningfully more competition for the same occupancy pool than the revenue figure alone suggests. It's a case for realistic expectations, not a case against entering this specific market.

Is a 30-plus-night remote-stay product supported by this data?

No. Zero listings in this sample are set to a 30-plus-night minimum, and the average stay is 2.4 nights with a 68-day lead time, a short, well-planned weekend pattern. Building a remote-worker pitch here off Wichita's origin-city label alone isn't supported by this market's own booking pattern.

Who is the typical host running these 18 listings?

Mostly independent, entire-home operators, 88.9 percent entire-home, 77.8 percent houses, with Superhost status covering 72.2 percent of the sample. Professionally managed share is unknown on this pass, and no confirmed national manager brand appears in the data, so treat the field as independently run until a later scrape says otherwise.

What should a host confirm before listing in Cottonwood Falls?

Call City Clerk Tina Andrews at 220 Broadway, (620) 273-6666, to confirm current short-term rental permit requirements directly, since a dedicated permit status hasn't been confirmed on this pass. That compliance step sits alongside the $22,862 typical year as the other half of a complete underwriting picture.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

A packet that prices Cottonwood Falls off a Wichita metro figure or an Emporia blend is pricing off the wrong market entirely. this market published its own specific $22,862 year on 18 listings, and that's the number to underwrite from.

We help independent hosts near the Tallgrass Prairie build pricing calendars from this market's own confirmed peak-3 and supply data, not a neighboring county's averaged year. Send us your current listing and we'll flag every number that doesn't actually belong to Cottonwood Falls.

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