Four Villages, One August Peak: Door County STR Report 2026

Thomas Garner
Aug 17
13 min read

Updated: 9 hours ago

Fish Creek Harbor Park shoreline in Door County, Wisconsin

Door County is a seventy-five-mile Lake Michigan and Green Bay peninsula, and it is not one short-term rental number. The AirROI extract dated 2026-08-08 prices four village cells. Sister Bay posts $453 ADR, 38.3 percent occupancy, $47,780 that clears, and a $4,254 median that also clears across 103 listings. Egg Harbor posts $465 ADR, 35.8 percent occupancy, $42,067 on a watch line, and a $3,835 median that still clears across 95 listings. Fish Creek posts $413 ADR, $39,173 on a watch line, and a $3,526 median across 86 listings. Ephraim posts $397 ADR, $38,448 on a watch line, and a $3,179 median across 85 listings.

Hosts who expect one Door County cottage year will misread the file on the first pass. August is the peak month in every village, and winter is not a second peak. Festival of Blossoms is a spring event, and fall harvest and color weekends exist. None of those replace August as the revenue peak, and none of them turn January into a second summer.

This report keeps the four cells separate and refuses the vendor-Keep mistake. Destination Door County's $551.6 million is visitor spend, not host revenue, and it does not sit on the same pile as a Sister Bay year. If you need the clerk map before you price a house, start with thevillage guide. If you are underwriting a purchase against these years, use theinvestment memo. For the hole months, see theshoulder-season calendar. We will not invent a blended peninsula ADR, and we will not treat Lake Geneva as Door County.

Four AirROI cells, not one peninsula number

The extract is four pages, not one Door County average. Sister Bay is 103 listings, and egg Harbor is 95. Fish Creek is 86, and ephraim is 85. Those counts sit next to different ADRs, different occupancy, and different clearance labels. A buyer who averages $47,780 with $38,448 and calls the result a Door County year has invented a fifth cell that no clerk licenses and no guest books. Keep the village name on every number you put in a memo.

Guests are a domestic drive market, about ninety-nine percent domestic, and the feeder order changes by village. Sister Bay and Egg Harbor read Chicago then Milwaukee. Fish Creek reads Milwaukee then Madison, and ephraim reads Madison then Milwaukee. Average stay sits between 3.4 and 3.7 nights, and lead time sits between 84 and 96 days. That is planned peninsula travel, not a same-week impulse market you can paper over with one cottage headline and a blended rate card.

Sturgeon Bay is the county seat and a neighbor city. Sevastopol is a separate town. Neither one is a fifth AirROI cell in this cluster, and neither one lets you collapse the four village years. Use the extract as a competitive set inside a named village. Use the clerk as the license desk. Do not treat a live Airbnb published market year as proof that the house sits in the village you want it to sit in, and do not treat Destination Door County visitor spend as a substitute for any of these four years.

Sister Bay clears $47,780; the other three do not

Sister Bay is the only year in this four that clears. $47,780 annual and $4,254 median month both clear, and aDR is $453. Occupancy is 38.3 percent, and revPAR is $188. Those figures support a conversation. They do not support copying the year onto Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, or Ephraim. A house in Sister Bay still has to survive February. A house in the other three villages has to survive a watch-line year before it has to survive a management split.

Egg Harbor is the next cell and it is already a split verdict. The year is $42,067 and sits on a watch line. The median month is $3,835 and still clears. ADR is the highest of the four at $465, with 35.8 percent occupancy and $176 RevPAR. High nightly rate does not rescue a watch-line year if your expense stack assumes Sister Bay clearance. Price Egg Harbor as Egg Harbor, including the fact that the median month can clear while the year still needs watching.

Fish Creek and Ephraim are watch on both the year and the median. Fish Creek posts $39,173 and $3,526, with $413 ADR, 37.1 percent occupancy, and $164 RevPAR. Ephraim posts $38,448 and $3,179, with $397 ADR, 44.3 percent occupancy, and $182 RevPAR. Ephraim occupies more of the year and still earns less than Sister Bay. Occupancy is not the same file as clearance. Underwrite the village year you actually bought, then decide whether marketing support belongs in the stack.how-to-market guideowns first-screen language after these years stay separate.

August is the peak in every village

August is the revenue peak in Sister Bay, Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, and Ephraim. That is the calendar fact this cluster will not let you negotiate. Peak-three lists then diverge by village, and sister Bay adds June and October. Egg Harbor adds July and June, and fish Creek adds September and June. Ephraim adds June and July. October in Sister Bay and September in Fish Creek are village-specific shoulders with extract support. They are not a second August and they are not a reason to Keep winter as a hidden high.

Lowest months also stay village-specific. Sister Bay, Egg Harbor, and Ephraim bottom in February. Fish Creek bottoms in January. Low-three lists are January, February, and April in Sister Bay and Fish Creek; January, February, and March in Egg Harbor; February, March, and April in Ephraim. Those holes are the underwrite, and festival of Blossoms is a spring guest story. Fall color is a fall guest story. Neither one is the extract peak, and ice or snowmobile demand is not a locked second season in this file.

Price the year you have, and defend August, and keep June in the conversation in every village. Use October only where Sister Bay's extract actually puts it, and use September only where Fish Creek's extract actually puts it. Leave out unverified a peninsula-wide blossom peak. Leave out unverified a winter carnival that the four cells do not print. The shoulder post owns the long-night months. This report only needs you to lock August as the high before you Keep a rate card or a purchase memo.

Occupancy sits in the mid-30s to mid-40s

Occupancy across the four cells is 38.3 percent in Sister Bay, 35.8 percent in Egg Harbor, 37.1 percent in Fish Creek, and 44.3 percent in Ephraim. That is a mid-thirties to mid-forties peninsula pattern, not a seventy-percent resort. More than half the available nights do not clear in three of the four villages. Ephraim fills more nights and still posts the lowest year of the four. Booked nights carry real ADR. Dark nights are part of the product, especially in January and February.

RevPAR is the bridge. Sister Bay $188, Ephraim $182, Egg Harbor $176, Fish Creek $164. At these occupancies, RevPAR is how you keep from falling in love with a nightly rate that only prints on the nights that book. Egg Harbor's $465 ADR is the highest of the four and still sits on a watch-line year because occupancy is 35.8 percent. Ephraim's $397 ADR is the lowest of the four and still produces a competitive RevPAR because occupancy is 44.3 percent. Nightly rate without occupancy is a brochure.

Read Superhost share next to occupancy, not instead of it. Sister Bay is 71.8 percent Superhost, and egg Harbor is 71.6 percent. Ephraim is 69.4 percent, and fish Creek is 47.7 percent. Guests who do book already see a polished set in three of the four villages. Instant Book is 21.4 percent in Sister Bay, 17.9 percent in Egg Harbor, 19.8 percent in Fish Creek, and 14.1 percent in Ephraim. Most calendars are still gated. Filling dark nights is a calendar and village-name problem, not an Instant Book trick.

30-plus-night settings are common and are not booked winter

Thirty-plus-night minimums already show on 70.9 percent of Sister Bay listings, 67.4 percent of Fish Creek listings, 60.0 percent of Ephraim listings, and 57.9 percent of Egg Harbor listings. That is a listing-setting share. It is not booked thirty-night occupancy, and it is not proof that February is full of remote months. Hosts who treat the 30-plus row as winter demand will invent a second peak the extract does not print. The setting is a product choice. The occupancy file is still the mid-thirties to mid-forties year.

Average Stay on this market sample is 3.5 nights in Sister Bay, 3.4 in Egg Harbor, 3.4 in Fish Creek, and 3.7 in Ephraim. Those averages sit next to a thick 30-plus setting share, which means the competitive set mixes a long-stay filter with shorter booked stays. Wis. Stat. 66.1014 protects residential rentals of seven consecutive days or more from a municipal ban, while still allowing permits. A thirty-night setting is not the statute, and it is not a village license. It is a calendar rule the host turned on.

If your product is a thirty-night house, say so and underwrite the month-shaped vacancy. If your product is a week in August, say so and do not hide behind the 30-plus share as if it were demand. Sevastopol is a different town with a different six-night rule for new listings that are not owner occupied. Do not import that clerk into these four village cells, and do not treat a 30-plus toggle as a winter occupancy report.30-night listing guideowns that product once the setting and the clerk match.

Named operators are concentration, not your year

Professional management share is 21.4 percent in Sister Bay, 36.8 percent in Egg Harbor, 30.2 percent in Fish Creek, and 34.1 percent in Ephraim. That is a village-by-village concentration fact, not a franchise map and not your pro forma. A multi-listing book on the peninsula is that operator's year. It is not a number you may divide by listing count and drop onto a cottage you have not licensed. Superhost share and photo craft can be driven by a handful of strong doors. Transferable income cannot.

Sister Bay's thinner 21.4 percent management layer sits next to the only clearing year in the four. Egg Harbor's thicker 36.8 percent layer sits next to a watch-line year and a clearing median. Those two facts together should Drop any story that says you must hire a full stack to exist in Door County, and they should also Drop the opposite story that says a logo transfers $47,780 onto a Fish Creek door. Underwrite one unit against the village year. Then decide what craft you actually lack.

Do not underwrite your year as anyone else's combined extract line. Underwrite Sister Bay against $47,780 and $4,254, and underwrite Egg Harbor against $42,067 and $3,835. Underwrite Fish Creek against $39,173 and $3,526, and underwrite Ephraim against $38,448 and $3,179. Portfolio revenue is competitive atmosphere. Cleaning medians of $216, $250, $250, and $178 already tell you the reset is professionalized village by village. That is an expense line. It is not a named operator's year you can copy.

AirROI Low is not the village clerk

Sister Bay carries an AirROI Low Keep on this market sample. That Keep is a vendor product flag. It is not Village of Sister Bay Ordinance 2023-006. It is not the $1,500 license, and it is not Wis. Stat, and 66.1014. It is not the Door County Tourism Zone's 8.0 percent room tax. Confusing Low with a clerk is how operators either walk away from a legal Sister Bay house or, worse, treat a published market year as if the village already licensed it. Marketplace density is not a permit packet.

Each village has its own desk. Sister Bay needs a village STR license for rentals under thirty days, plus a Wisconsin Tourist Rooming House license and a Tourism Zone registration. Fish Creek sits in the Town of Gibraltar. Egg Harbor runs its own short-term residential dwelling ordinance. Ephraim renews on its own November clock. Sevastopol and Sturgeon Bay are neighbors with their own paper. A Low badge does not merge those desks, and a Tourism Zone login does not replace a village license.

Use AirROI for ADR, occupancy, seasonality, 30-plus share, and management share. Use the clerk for whether the house can list. The July 14, 2026 Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision in Clinton v. Sister Bay voided Sister Bay's four-bedroom short-term rental definition as preempted by 66.1014. The license remains. That is not a cap reversal and it is not a vendor-Keep event. Keep extract flags in the extract folder. Keep ordinance paper in the clerk folder. The village guide is the map for that split.

What this market is not

This is not one Door County cottage market. Listing copy that leads with a blended peninsula rate, a stolen Lake Geneva weekend, or a winter second peak is writing for a file this extract does not print. The demand origin is Chicago, Milwaukee, and Madison driving to a named village, not a southern Wisconsin lake town and not a ferry-minute story we will not invent. Keep the product language on Fish Creek, Ephraim, Egg Harbor, or Sister Bay. Neighbors are context, and they are not your slug.

This is also not the investment memo and not the tourism headline. A house can sit on $453 ADR in Sister Bay and still fail if the owner never files the $1,500 license. A house can sit on Ephraim's 44.3 percent occupancy and still fail if the watch-line year cannot carry February. Destination Door County's $551.6 million measures visitor spend. It is not four village years added together, and it is not a number you may divide by listing count. Room tax remittance is a third object.

If you remember only one frame from the extract, remember this. Four cells, and one August peak. One clearing year in Sister Bay. Three watch-line years in Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, and Ephraim. Occupancy in the mid-thirties to mid-forties, and 30-plus settings that are not booked winter. AirROI Low as a vendor badge, and visitor spend as visitor spend. Price the village you actually own, and market the harbor or orchard you can prove. Leave the clerk map and the purchase thesis to the posts built for them.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the four Door County AirROI village years on the 2026-08-08 extract?

Sister Bay posts $47,780 annual revenue and a $4,254 median month; both clear. Egg Harbor posts $42,067 on a watch line with a $3,835 median that still clears. Fish Creek posts $39,173 and a $3,526 median, both watch. Ephraim posts $38,448 and a $3,179 median, both watch. Treat these as four separate village figures rather than blending them into one peninsula-wide average.

Which month is the revenue peak in Door County villages?

August is the peak month in Sister Bay, Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, and Ephraim. Peak-three lists then differ: Sister Bay adds June and October, Egg Harbor adds July and June, Fish Creek adds September and June, and Ephraim adds June and July. Winter is not a second peak. Festival of Blossoms and fall color are guest stories, not extract highs.

Does Sister Bay's AirROI Low Keep mean the village bans short-term rentals?

AirROI Low is a vendor product Keep on the Sister Bay extract. It is not Ordinance 2023-006, not the $1,500 village license, and not Wis. Sister Bay still licenses rentals under thirty days. A live Airbnb published market year is not that license. Use the extract for marketplace math and the village clerk for paper. Sister Bay needs a village STR license for rentals under thirty days, plus a Wisconsin Tourist Rooming House license and a Tourism Zone registration.

Is occupancy in the mid-30s a weak Door County market?

It is a peninsula weekend pattern, not a seventy-percent resort. Sister Bay occupies 38.3 percent, Egg Harbor 35.8, Fish Creek 37.1, and Ephraim 44.3. Booked nights still carry ADR from $397 to $465. Dark nights, especially January and February, belong in the underwrite. Ephraim fills more nights and still posts the lowest year of the four.

Does a 30-plus-night listing setting mean winter is booked?

Thirty-plus-night minimums appear on 70.9 percent of Sister Bay listings, 67.4 percent in Fish Creek, 60.0 percent in Ephraim, and 57.9 percent in Egg Harbor. That is a listing-setting share, not booked thirty-night occupancy and not a second winter peak. Average Stay on this market sample is still 3.4 to 3.7 nights. Thirty-plus-night minimums already show on 70.9 percent of Sister Bay listings, 67.4 percent of Fish Creek listings, 60.0 percent of Ephraim listings, and 57.9 percent of Egg Harbor listings.

Can I use Destination Door County's $551.6 million as host revenue?

The $551.6 million figure is 2025 visitor spend from Destination Door County and Tourism Economics. It is not Sister Bay's $47,780 year, not the other three village years, and not a number you may divide by listing count. Room-tax remittance is a third object. Keep visitor spend in the tourism file, not on the host revenue line.

Who books these four Door County villages?

Guests are about ninety-nine percent domestic and mostly a drive market. Sister Bay and Egg Harbor read Chicago then Milwaukee. Fish Creek reads Milwaukee then Madison. Ephraim reads Madison then Milwaukee. Lead times run 84 to 96 days and average stays run 3.4 to 3.7 nights, so the booking conversation is planned peninsula travel rather than same-week impulse.

What this market is not?

This report keeps the four cells separate and refuses the vendor-Keep mistake. Do not import that clerk into these four village cells, and do not treat a 30-plus toggle as a winter occupancy report. Do not treat a live Airbnb published market year as proof that the house sits in the village you want it to sit in, and do not treat Destination Door County visitor spend as a substitute for any of these four years.

What is occupancy on this market sample?

Occupancy is 35.8 percent on this market sample. A busy walk or a festival weekend is demand. It is not that occupancy file and it does not fill the slow month by itself. Listing copy that leads with a blended peninsula rate, a stolen Lake Geneva weekend, or a winter second peak is writing for a file this extract does not print.

Does a 30-night setting fill the slow month?

A 30-night minimum is a platform filter. Typical stay on these extracts is still a short trip. The filter is not a filled slow month and it is not a remote-work product you did not photograph. The 30-night listing guide owns that product once the setting and the clerk match. The how-to-market guide owns first-screen language after these years stay separate.

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