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Marblehead, MA STR Market Report for Independent Hosts

Updated: 17 hours ago

Marblehead MA

Marblehead is not a beach town pretending to have history. It's a working harbor peninsula on Massachusetts's North Shore, about 20 miles and a 30-minute drive northeast of Boston, where the colonial and Revolutionary past isn't a marketing theme , it's the reason the streets are this narrow and the harbor is shaped this way. Roughly 20,000 people live here year-round, in a town where Fort Sewall still sits on its bluff above the harbor mouth, General John Glover's Marblehead Regiment is still local lore taught to schoolkids, and three yacht clubs still send fleets out every summer weekend the way they have for well over a century.


For anyone researching the Marblehead MA short-term rental market , investors, owners converting a family property, or hosts sizing up a first Airbnb , that identity matters more than it might in a typical coastal market. Marblehead isn't selling "beach vacation." It's selling a specific, credible version of New England: harbor views, sailing culture, Revolutionary-era architecture, and about a 10-minute drive to Salem for anyone who wants a busier day out. This report lays out what the numbers actually say about that market in 2026 , including the places where different data sources disagree , plus where the regulatory picture stands and how open the competitive field currently is.


What Makes Marblehead a Distinct Market

Old Town Marblehead is a genuine warren of 17th- and 18th-century streets wrapped around a working harbor, not a reconstructed historic district. That distinction shows up in what guests actually come to see and do. And unlike many established coastal markets, Marblehead has no dominant institutional manager and only one named boutique operator, leaving real room for a well-positioned independent host or small portfolio to build a direct-booking brand around what actually makes this town distinctive: a working harbor, a Revolutionary-era pedigree the town's own historians hold with appropriate caution, and a front-row seat to one of New England's oldest sailing weeks.


Fort Sewallanchors the town's Revolutionary identity. Built in the 17th century and rebuilt and re-armed multiple times since , including active duty during the Revolutionary War , it now sits as a public park on a bluff overlooking Marblehead Harbor, an easy walk from Old Town's shops and restaurants. It's the kind of free, low-effort attraction that rental guests discover on a morning walk and end up photographing more than anything they planned to see.


The town's other Revolutionary claim runs throughGeneral John Glover and the Marblehead Regiment, the local mariners who rowed George Washington's army across the Delaware River and crewed the schooner Hannah, one of the first vessels commissioned for what would become the U.S. Navy. Marblehead's own historical commission describes the town's claim to being the "birthplace of the American Navy" as *disputed* , several other New England ports make a similar claim , but the town leans into the story anyway, and it's real enough to hold up to a curious guest's Google search.Abbot Hall, built in 1876 and still Marblehead's town hall, houses the original "Spirit of '76" painting, one of the most reproduced images of the American Revolution.


Layered on top of the history is a sailing culture that's still very much alive, not preserved behind glass. The harbor is home to three active yacht clubs , the Eastern Yacht Club, the Corinthian Yacht Club, and the Boston Yacht Club , and every summer, usually the last full week of July, the town hosts Marblehead Race Week, part of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series and dating back to 1889. In 2026 the event runs July 23-26, and it typically draws up to roughly 200 boats and their crews, along with families and spectators who need somewhere to stay for the week. Race Week isn't an one-day festival; it fills the town's limited lodging for the better part of a week, and it's one of the clearest, most predictable demand spikes a Marblehead host can plan around.


That lodging scarcity is itself a market feature. Marblehead has very little hotel inventory within the town itself , nothing like the chain-hotel corridors you'd find along a bigger coastal strip. Combined with Salem's witch-trial museums and the Peabody Essex Museum sitting just about 10 minutes away, Marblehead has settled into a natural positioning: the quiet, walkable, harbor-view home base for travelers who want to do their sightseeing in busier, more touristed Salem and then retreat somewhere calmer at night. That's a genuinely useful niche, and it's one Marblehead listings can lean into directly in their titles and descriptions rather than competing head-on with Salem's own inventory.


The Numbers: What the Data Actually Shows

Anyone shopping for a single, confident revenue figure for Marblehead short-term rentals is going to be disappointed, and that's worth saying plainly rather than picking whichever number sounds best. Multiple data providers have looked at this market in 2026, and they don't agree , not on average revenue, not on nightly rate, not even on how many active listings exist. Here's what's actually out there.


AirROI's 2026 datasetputs average annual revenue at AirROI Marblehead $46,120 as of 2026-07-31, with AirROI 41.6% occupancy as of 2026-07-31, an AirROI $445 as of 2026-07-31 (ADR), and $196 RevPAR (revenue per available rental, a blended measure of rate and occupancy together). A separate June 2026 snapshot from guestfavorites.comlands on an almost identical median annual revenue of AirROI Marblehead $46,120 as of 2026-07-31, reassuringly close to AirROI's average , but describes a very different rate structure to get there: a much lower AirROI $445 ADR as of 2026-07-31, AirROI 41.6% occupancy as of 2026-07-31, and only 128 active listings counted at the time of the snapshot.


A separateJune 2026 snapshot from guestfavorites.comlands on an almost identical median annual revenue ofAirROI Marblehead $46,120 as of 2026-07-31, reassuringly close to AirROI's average , but describes a very different rate structure to get there: a much lower AirROI $445 ADR as of 2026-07-31, AirROI 41.6% occupancy as of 2026-07-31, and only 128 active listings counted at the time of the snapshot.


strprofitmap.com, sourcing from AirDNA, shows a lower median of AirROI Marblehead $46,120 as of 2026-07-31/year, an AirROI $445 ADR as of 2026-07-31, and AirROI 41.6% occupancy as of 2026-07-31 , the highest occupancy figure of any source here , with top-performing listings clearing a leftover occupancy ranking we do not published market year or more annually. Marblehead is a small, high-identity coastal market that has grown fast , by the town's own count, more than doubling its active listing base between 2021 and 2024 , while revenue figures across every data source available in 2026 comfortably clear viability thresholds, even accounting for real disagreement on the exact rate and occupancy math behind those numbers.


And thetown's own Planning Board, in a late-2024 study, cited AirDNA's straight average (not median) at AirROI Marblehead $46,120 as of 2026-07-31/year, the highest figure of the group. strprofitmap.com, sourcing from AirDNA, shows a lower median of AirROI Marblehead $46,120 as of 2026-07-31/year, an AirROI $445 ADR as of 2026-07-31, and AirROI 41.6% occupancy as of 2026-07-31 , the highest occupancy figure of any source here , with top-performing listings clearing a leftover occupancy ranking we do not published market year or more annually.


Lay these side by side and a few things become clear. First, every single one of these figures , even the lowest, at just over $40,000 , clears a named-town AirROI pins/year viability bar comfortably, which is the more important takeaway than any single number. Second, the range across sources is real: annual revenue clusters somewhere between roughly AirROI Marblehead $46,120 as of 2026-07-31, and nightly rate should be treated as a genuine $290-to-$441 range rather than a single figure, because the sources genuinely diverge on rate and occupancy math even when they land in a similar place on total revenue. A listing that runs a lower rate at higher occupancy and one that runs a premium rate at lower occupancy can produce nearly identical annual totals , which is likely part of why AirROI and guestfavorites.com converge on almost the same revenue number through very different assumptions about rate and occupancy.


Listing counts show the same kind of disagreement, and it's sharper.The town's own 2024 Planning Board study counted 231 active short-term rental listings, describing that as a131% increase from roughly 100 listings in 2021, the surge this report is named for , with about 88% of those listings being entire-home rentals rather than private rooms. But the 2026 guestfavorites.com snapshot cited above shows only 128 active listings, well under half the town's 2024 count. That's not a small rounding difference, and it's not clear from available sources whether it reflects genuine market contraction, a narrower definition of "active," a different snapshot window, or simply inconsistent methodology between a municipal study and a third-party data platform. Anyone using listing-count figures to plan a market entry should treat this discrepancy as real and unresolved, and verify the current count directly at the time of drafting rather than citing either figure with false confidence.


What can be said with confidence: Marblehead went from a niche, low-volume Airbnb market as recently as 2021 to a meaningfully larger one by 2024, with entire-home rentals dominating the mix, and every 2026 revenue dataset still shows healthy return relative to typical operating costs in the region. Listing counts show the same kind of disagreement, and it's sharper.The town's own 2024 Planning Board study counted 231 active short-term rental listings, describing that as a131% increase from roughly 100 listings in 2021, the surge this report is named for , with about 88% of those listings being entire-home rentals rather than private rooms.


Regulation: Where Things Stand Right Now

Marblehead's regulatory posture toward short-term rentals is, as of the most recent confirmed reporting, notably light-touch. The town's only current STR-specific rule is a6% local room occupancy tax, effective May 2024, layered on top of the state's existing lodging tax framework. That tax is already producing real revenue for the town: its first collection period, covering June through August 2024, brought in approximately$70,440.92.


Beyond that tax, there is currentlyno local license, no permit requirement, and no inspection regimegoverning existing whole-home short-term rentals in Marblehead. That's an unusually open regulatory environment compared to many coastal Massachusetts and New England towns that have moved to cap listings, require annual inspections, or restrict rentals to owner-occupied properties. Marblehead doesn't yet have a dominant brand owning its short-term rental search results the way some coastal markets do, and with 131% listing growth already behind it and further growth likely, that window won't stay open indefinitely.


That said, "no rules yet" is not the same as "no scrutiny." The town has been actively studying further short-term rental regulation since at least late 2024, when the Planning Board commissioned the market study cited above specifically to inform future policy. And the regulatory picture has already started to move: a narrow, ADU-specific bylaw change passed at Marblehead'sMay 2026 Town Meeting, addressing short-term rentals in accessory dwelling units specifically rather than the broader whole-home rental market. The full mechanics of that bylaw change, along with anything further the town considers, are worth tracking closely , we cover that in detail in our companion regulatory guide for this cluster. For now, the operating reality for anyone running or considering a whole-home short-term rental in Marblehead is straightforward: register for and remit the 6% room tax, and watch for further changes rather than assume the current light-touch environment is permanent.


Competition: A Genuinely Open Field

One of the more striking things about Marblehead's short-term rental market, given its size and revenue potential, is how little institutional competition exists here. A review of the market turns upno confirmed national or regional institutional operator, no Vacasa portfolio, no Avant Stay presence, no Go Summer footprint , managing Marblehead listings at any scale. That's a meaningfully different picture than nearby Cape Ann, just up the coast, whereAtlantic Vacation Homesoperates as an established regional manager with real portfolio depth.


The one named local operator working Marblehead specifically isAmy Ruocco's "Hosted Guest,"a boutique, locally rooted management business handling 13 units. That's a real, credible operator , but 13 units against 128-to-231 total active listings (depending on which count you trust) leaves the overwhelming majority of the market self-managed or handled by out-of-market generalists with no Marblehead-specific expertise.


For an independent host or a small operator willing to invest in direct-booking positioning, local SEO, and content that actually understands what guests are searching for , Fort Sewall, Race Week, "birthplace of the American Navy," the Salem day-trip angle , that's a genuinely open competitive field. Marblehead doesn't yet have a dominant brand owning its short-term rental search results the way some coastal markets do, and with 131% listing growth already behind it and further growth likely, that window won't stay open indefinitely.


The Bottom Line

Marblehead is a small, high-identity coastal market that has grown fast , by the town's own count, more than doubling its active listing base between 2021 and 2024 , while revenue figures across every data source available in 2026 comfortably clear viability thresholds, even accounting for real disagreement on the exact rate and occupancy math behind those numbers. Regulation remains light for now, limited to a room tax with no license or cap yet in place, though the town is actively studying more and has already passed a narrower ADU-specific rule. And unlike many established coastal markets, Marblehead has no dominant institutional manager and only one named boutique operator, leaving real room for a well-positioned independent host or small portfolio to build a direct-booking brand around what actually makes this town distinctive: a working harbor, a Revolutionary-era pedigree the town's own historians hold with appropriate caution, and a front-row seat to one of New England's oldest sailing weeks.


For an independent host or a small operator willing to invest in direct-booking positioning, local SEO, and content that actually understands what guests are searching for , Fort Sewall, Race Week, "birthplace of the American Navy," the Salem day-trip angle , that's a genuinely open competitive field.


Related Reading

Keep reading on same-cluster Crest & Cove pages that stay on labeled local lines without costume-corridor copy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Marblehead, MA a good market for short-term rental investment in 2026?

By most available measures, yes. AirROI's 2026 dataset puts average annual revenue at $46,120, with 41.6 percent occupancy, a $441 ADR, and $196 RevPAR -- comfortably clearing a typical viability threshold. The market has also grown fast, with the town's own count showing active listings up 131 percent from 2021 to 2024, and no dominant institutional manager has yet claimed it.


How much does a Marblehead Airbnb actually earn per year?

It depends which source you trust, and they don't fully agree. AirROI's 2026 data shows $46,120 average annual revenue; a June 2026 guestfavorites.com snapshot lands on an almost identical median; strprofitmap.com, sourcing from AirDNA, shows a somewhat lower median with the highest occupancy figure of the group; and the town's own late-2024 Planning Board study cited an AirDNA average that ran the highest of the four. Treat the realistic range as roughly $40,000-$46,000 rather than a single number.


What is the average nightly rate for a Marblehead short-term rental?

This is one of the areas where sources diverge most. AirROI puts average daily rate at $441; guestfavorites.com shows $291; strprofitmap.com shows $325. The gap likely reflects different occupancy assumptions built into each platform's methodology -- a lower rate at higher occupancy and a higher rate at lower occupancy can land on similar total annual revenue, so treat $291-$441 as the realistic range rather than picking one figure.


How many active Airbnb and VRBO listings does Marblehead have?

This is genuinely unresolved as of mid-2026. The town's 2024 Planning Board study counted 231 active listings, up 131 percent from about 100 in 2021. A June 2026 third-party snapshot counted only 128. The discrepancy hasn't been explained in available sources and should be verified against a current count before making market-entry decisions based on listing volume.


Does Marblehead require a short-term rental license or permit?

Not currently, based on the most recent confirmed reporting. Marblehead's only STR-specific rule is a 6 percent local room occupancy tax, effective May 2024. There's no local license, permit, or inspection requirement for existing whole-home short-term rentals. The town has been studying further regulation since late 2024, and a narrower bylaw addressing short-term rentals in accessory dwelling units passed at the May 2026 Town Meeting.


How much has Marblehead's short-term rental tax generated?

The town's 6 percent room occupancy tax, effective May 2024, brought in approximately $70,440.92 in its first collection period, covering June through August 2024 -- evidence that the market is already producing meaningful local tax revenue even before any additional licensing framework is in place.


Who manages short-term rentals in Marblehead -- are there big property management companies here?

No confirmed national or regional institutional operator -- no Vacasa, Avant Stay, or Go Summer -- currently manages a Marblehead portfolio at scale. The one named local operator is Amy Ruocco's 'Hosted Guest,' a boutique business managing 13 units. That's a much more open competitive field than nearby Cape Ann, where Atlantic Vacation Homes has an established regional presence.


What makes Marblehead different from other North Shore Massachusetts vacation rental markets?

Marblehead combines genuine, still-active history -- Fort Sewall, the Marblehead Regiment's Revolutionary War role, Abbot Hall's original 'Spirit of '76' painting -- with a working harbor and living sailing culture centered on three yacht clubs and the annual Marblehead Race Week. Limited in-town hotel inventory and easy proximity, about 10 minutes, to Salem's museums give Marblehead a distinct 'quiet home base next to a busier destination' position that few other North Shore towns can claim as credibly.


About the Authors

Crest & Cove Creative is a short-term rental marketing agency founded by Thomas Garner and Jacob Mishalanie. We build direct-booking brands, listing optimization systems, and market-specific content strategies for independent STR operators nationwide, including emerging corridors like Massachusetts. One of the more striking things about Marblehead's short-term rental market, given its size and revenue potential, is how little institutional competition exists here.


Sources


Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Marblehead Race Week fills the town's limited lodging for most of a week every July, yet only one 13-unit boutique operator manages this market. A listing that skips Fort Sewall and Race Week for generic coastal copy misses both.


We help Marblehead hosts write listing copy built around Fort Sewall, Race Week, and the Salem day-trip angle, the specifics that separate this harbor town from Cape Ann's already-consolidated management market.


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

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