Nantucket or Edgartown: Two Ferries, Two Very Different Years
Ask someone who has never been to either place to describe the difference between Nantucket and Edgartown, and you'll usually get a shrug. Both are old whaling towns off the Massachusetts coast. Both are reached by boat. Both show up in the same glossy summer magazine spreads with gray shingles, hydrangeas, and a harbor full of sailboats. To a first-time visitor scrolling listings, they can look like two spellings of the same trip.
They are not. Nantucket is its own island with its own town government covering the whole thing, from the cobblestone core of Main Street out to the south-shore beaches and Madaket. Edgartown is one town on a different island, Martha's Vineyard, sharing that island with Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, and others — a historic whaling village with its own identity, distinct from Oak Bluffs' louder, more resort-adjacent scene fifteen minutes up the road. Two islands, two boats, two governments, two years. A host or buyer weighing one against the other deserves a comparison built on that structure, not a shared adjective. This is not legal advice.
The numbers, kept on separate lines
Nantucket's AirROI figures, drawn from the Massachusetts state table for the August 2025–July 2026 window, put the island at $6,262 per month in average revenue across a sample of 554 listings, with an average daily rate of $1,138 and occupancy of 35.8%. A neighboring AirROI page separately cites Nantucket's average annual revenue at $75,141, tied to that same 35.8% occupancy. Those two Nantucket figures don't perfectly reconcile — a simple twelve-month extrapolation of the monthly number lands closer to $75,144 — and that gap is worth flagging as a watch item rather than pretending it isn't there.
Edgartown's AirROI extract, covering the same August 2025–July 2026 window and updated August 8, 2026, shows a typical year of about $50,351 across 264 active listings, with occupancy at 35.5%, an average daily rate of $905, and RevPAR of $341. Set the two islands side by side and the pattern is plain: nearly identical occupancy — 35.8% versus 35.5%, a gap so small it's effectively a rounding difference — but Nantucket's rate runs roughly $230 a night higher, and that gap compounds into a meaningfully larger typical year. Neither number should be blended with the other. They describe different islands, different listing pools, and different guest bases, and averaging them produces a figure that fits neither.
Near-identical occupancy, a real gap in rate
The occupancy twin is the most interesting number in this comparison, and it's easy to miss because the rate gap is so much more visible. Both islands fill roughly a third of their calendar year. Neither one is a metro market chasing 55% or 60% occupancy, and neither one needs to be — both are ferry-access, weather-dependent leisure islands with a short, intense peak and a long, quiet stretch on either side of it. If occupancy were the only number that mattered, Nantucket and Edgartown would look like twins.
They stop looking like twins the moment ADR enters the picture. Nantucket's $1,138 versus Edgartown's $905 is not a rounding difference — it's roughly a 26% premium, and at similar occupancy that premium flows almost directly to the bottom line. Whatever is driving that gap — Nantucket's greater exclusivity, its smaller total footprint concentrating demand, its longer-standing reputation as the pricier of the two islands, or some combination the AirROI extracts don't break out — it shows up as real dollars, not as a marketing narrative. A host deciding between the two islands on rate alone would lean Nantucket; a host weighing entry cost and competition alongside that rate has a more complicated call to make, and this report isn't the place to settle that trade-off with an guessed number.
One island, one government — versus one town among several
This is the structural difference that gets lost when people talk about "the islands" as a single category. Nantucket the town and Nantucket the island are the same government, the same desk, the same set of rules from the cobblestone core out to the south-shore beaches and the outlying neighborhoods. A host anywhere on the island files with the same office and answers to the same registration cycle.
Edgartown doesn't have that luxury of scale. It's one town sharing Martha's Vineyard with Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, West Tisbury, Chilmark, and Aquinnah, each running its own town government and, potentially, its own local process. Edgartown's own identity — the whaling captains' houses on North Water Street, the Old Whaling Church steeple, brick sidewalks that predate the automobile — sits in deliberate contrast to Oak Bluffs' gingerbread-cottage-and-nightlife scene a short drive away. A guest, or a host's marketing copy, that treats the two towns as interchangeable is making the same mistake as someone who treats Nantucket and the Vineyard as interchangeable, just one scale smaller. That fragmentation also means a Vineyard host has to be precise about which desk applies to their specific address; a Nantucket host has one desk, period.
Two different boats, two different commitments
Both islands are ferry-only, and that shared fact is exactly what makes people assume the trip is interchangeable. It isn't. Nantucket's Steamship Authority route runs primarily out of Hyannis. Edgartown and the rest of Martha's Vineyard are reached primarily through the Woods Hole crossing to Vineyard Haven (Tisbury), a different terminal, a different route, a different reservation system to plan around. A guest who has booked passage to one island hasn't booked passage to the other, and a host's guest-facing content should never imply otherwise.
The practical upshot for hosts is the same on both islands even though the specific boats differ: the ferry is genuine, load-bearing logistics that belongs in guest communication, and it is not a permitting body on either island. On Nantucket, the Steamship Authority has no role in whether a listing is legally registered — that runs through the Town of Nantucket. On the Vineyard, the same separation holds. Confusing ferry logistics with compliance is an easy, avoidable mistake on either island, and it's worth double-checking that a listing description never blurs the two.
Two different registration pictures
This is not legal advice, but it is one of the more concrete differences between the two islands, and it matters for anyone actually weighing where to host. Nantucket's short-term rental registration runs through a confirmed, published process: the Town of Nantucket requires certificates of registration through a GovOS portal, under a bylaw codified as Chapter 123, authorized at the 2022 Annual Town Meeting and jointly adopted by the town's Board of Health and Select Board on September 21, 2022. The prior cycle's certificates were posted as expiring October 31, 2025, with existing registrants renewing each year between September 1 and October 31.
Edgartown's picture is less settled, at least as far as a confirmed, published town-level registration page goes. That doesn't mean no local requirement exists — it means this comparison, built from the same research pass covering both towns, could not verify a standalone Edgartown certificate process the way it could verify Nantucket's. What is confirmed on the Vineyard side is that Massachusetts runs a statewide short-term rental and room-occupancy registration through the Department of Revenue, via MassTaxConnect, which applies regardless of what any individual town's local process turns out to require. A host choosing between the two islands on the basis of regulatory clarity alone would find Nantucket's picture easier to nail down today — but "easier to find published" isn't the same as "simpler to comply with," and either way, both islands' hosts should confirm current requirements directly with their town before listing.
The calendar shape looks similar from a distance
Both islands run the same basic seasonal shape: a short, high-value summer that carries the year, real shoulder activity in the months bracketing it, and a genuine off-season where a large share of the calendar goes quiet. Nantucket's peak runs July and August, with June and September functioning as shoulder and the stretch from roughly November through April registering as the real trough. Edgartown's AirROI data names August as the single peak month, with July and June close behind, and January through March as the softest stretch.
The difference is in the edges more than the center. Neither island behaves like a mainland coastal town with a nearby interstate, where a soft trickle of weekend drivers keeps the off-season from going fully dark. A guest visiting either island in December is making the same advance-planning, ferry-reservation decision as a guest visiting in July, just against a much smaller set of reasons to make that trip. Hosts on both islands are underwriting the same basic bet — protect the peak rate, treat the shoulder as its own marketing problem, and accept the winter hole rather than trying to discount it away.
Sample size and what it does and doesn't tell you
Nantucket's figures rest on a larger sample — 554 listings against Edgartown's 264 — which gives the island's average a bit more statistical weight, though both are reasonable bases for a market this size. Neither sample tells an individual host what their specific listing will earn. A five-bedroom trophy property near Nantucket town and a modest Madaket cottage both sit inside that $1,138 average without either one earning exactly that number; the same spread exists between a harbor-district captain's house on North Water Street and a smaller unit on Edgartown's outer edge, where 97% of that town's 264 active listings run entire-home rather than shared space.
That means the town-wide averages on both islands are starting frames, not forecasts. The right use of this comparison isn't to decide that Nantucket will outperform any given Edgartown listing by exactly $230 a night — it's to understand that the two islands are structurally similar in how full their calendars run and structurally different in what a night actually sells for, and to build a specific listing's pricing and marketing plan around whichever island it actually sits on, using that listing's own trailing data once there is any to use.
Which reader this actually serves
The host who benefits most from this comparison is the one weighing both towns at once — someone who has a lead on a property on one island, a friend or a listing agent pushing the other, and no clean way to compare them beyond "aren't they basically the same place." They're not, and the honest answer to which one makes sense depends on things this report can name but not resolve for a specific buyer: which calendar and desk the owner can actually manage, what entry cost looks like on the specific address in question, and whether the extra rate Nantucket commands is worth the tradeoffs — greater exclusivity, a different guest, a registration cycle with a hard annual deadline — against Edgartown's comparatively lower rate inside a historic-district identity that Oak Bluffs, its own noisier neighbor, doesn't share.
Framing Nantucket as simply "the pricier version of Edgartown" misses the point as badly as framing Edgartown as "the cheaper Nantucket." They are two different products serving overlapping but distinct segments of the same general demand for a New England island vacation, and a listing marketed with that distinction in mind will read as more credible to a guest doing the same research this report just did.
Related Reading
More Nantucket or Edgartown host reading on desks, calendars, and listing clarity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Nantucket the same market as Edgartown?
No. They're different islands with different ferry systems, different town governments, and different revenue years. Nantucket's AirROI figures run about $1,138 ADR and 35.8% occupancy; Edgartown's run about $905 ADR and 35.5% occupancy. The two should never be averaged into one figure.
Which pays more, Nantucket or Edgartown?
On the available AirROI data, Nantucket's average daily rate runs meaningfully higher — about $1,138 versus Edgartown's $905 — while occupancy on both islands sits close together, around 35.5–35.8%. That rate gap is the main driver behind Nantucket's higher typical annual revenue figure.
Do Nantucket and Edgartown have similar occupancy rates?
Yes, notably so. Nantucket's AirROI extract shows 35.8% occupancy and Edgartown's shows 35.5% — close enough to be effectively a rounding difference. The gap between the two markets shows up in rate, not in how much of the calendar books.
Do Nantucket and Edgartown use the same ferry?
No. Nantucket is reached primarily via the Steamship Authority's route from Hyannis. Edgartown and the rest of Martha's Vineyard are reached primarily via the Woods Hole crossing to Vineyard Haven. A reservation for one island's boat does not cover the other.
Is Edgartown the same as Oak Bluffs?
No, and they're both on Martha's Vineyard, not Nantucket. Edgartown is a historic whaling village built around North Water Street and the harbor; Oak Bluffs, a short drive away, has a more resort-adjacent, nightlife-oriented identity. Marketing copy that blurs the two towns undersells whichever one it's actually describing.
Does Nantucket have a confirmed short-term rental registration process?
Yes. The Town of Nantucket requires registration through a GovOS portal under Chapter 123 of the town code, with certificates on an annual renewal cycle between September 1 and October 31. This is not legal advice — confirm current status directly with the town.
Does Edgartown have a confirmed town-level STR registration process?
This report did not find a confirmed, published Edgartown town STR registration page. That doesn't rule out a local requirement — hosts should confirm directly with the Town of Edgartown. Massachusetts also runs a statewide short-term rental registration through the Department of Revenue via MassTaxConnect, which applies regardless of the local process. This is not legal advice.
Is Nantucket one town or several?
Nantucket the island and the Town of Nantucket are the same government, covering the whole island under one desk and one set of rules. Martha's Vineyard, by contrast, is split among several towns — Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, West Tisbury, Chilmark, and Aquinnah — each with its own town government.
What's the sample size behind these two islands' numbers?
Nantucket's AirROI figures are drawn from a sample of 554 listings; Edgartown's from 264 active listings. Both are reasonable bases for a market of this size, but neither predicts what any single property will earn — both are town-wide averages, not per-listing forecasts.
Should I list on Nantucket or in Edgartown?
That depends on factors this comparison can name but not resolve for a specific buyer — entry cost on the actual property, which registration cycle and desk an owner can manage, and whether Nantucket's higher rate is worth its different guest base and hard annual renewal deadline versus Edgartown's historic-district identity at a somewhat lower rate. Both islands post similar occupancy; the real decision usually comes down to the specific address and the owner's own numbers, not the town-wide average alone.
Work with Crest & Cove Creative
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