Pacific City vs. Oceanside, Oregon: Why $40,828 and $34,813 Aren't the Same Market

Jacob Mishalanie
Aug 21
8 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Empty dory boats on Pacific City sand at Cape Kiwanda, no people

Pacific City and Oceanside are both unincorporated communities on the Tillamook County coast, and both show up when travelers search “Oregon coast rental.” That's about all they share. Pacific City is anchored by Cape Kiwanda's sand dune and dory-boat launch; Oceanside is a smaller, quieter town built around Netarts Bay and the offshore Three Arch Rocks. The two markets post different revenue, different occupancy, and a different guest, and a listing description that blends them serves neither town's guest.

AirROI's trailing twelve months, August 2025 through July 2026, puts typical Pacific City host revenue at $40,828 across 286 active listings , average nightly rate $363, occupancy 35.4 percent, revenue per available night $141, down 4.7 percent year over year with active supply flat at 0.0 percent growth. Oceanside, over the same window, averaged $34,813 across a much smaller sample of 97 listings. Different town, different curve; averaging the two produces a number that describes neither.

Both towns share a booking calendar more than a market. August, June, and July are the strongest months, February is the slowest, and occupancy bottoms out in January. Guests book about 60 days out for a typical stay of 3.4 nights, and most arrive from Portland, then Bend. Roughly 54.5 percent of active listings across the two towns are professionally managed, which still leaves real room for independent hosts who get the town-specific details right.

Short-term rental permitting for both communities runs through Tillamook County Community Development, at 1510-B Third Street in Tillamook. Fee schedules and hours change from year to year, so confirm the current 2026 requirements directly with the county rather than reusing a number from an old listing or blog post.

Two Oregon Coast Towns, Two Different Markets

Pacific City and Oceanside sit on the same stretch of coastline and get lumped together in a lot of marketing copy, but they're not interchangeable. Pacific City is the bigger, busier market , 286 active listings, a landmark dune and dory-boat beach launch at Cape Kiwanda, and a downtown built around visitor traffic. Oceanside is a fraction of the size, with 97 active listings and a slower, residential feel built around Netarts Bay, the walk-through tunnel to the beach, and a clear view of Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge just offshore.

That size gap shows up in the numbers. Pacific City's larger, more visible market commands a higher blended average ($40,828) but also carries more competition and a small year-over-year pullback. Oceanside's smaller market means fewer comps, a thinner data sample, and a guest who often chose the town specifically for its quiet character rather than as a Pacific City alternative.

Treat them as two separate files: two host years, two galleries, two sets of comps. A listing that borrows Oceanside's calm-town description for a Pacific City property, or Pacific City's dune photos for an Oceanside stay, is misrepresenting the actual guest experience, not just the market data.

Pacific City's Numbers: $40,828 on 286 Listings

Pacific City posted $40,828 in typical host revenue across 286 active listings for the trailing twelve months ending July 2026. Average nightly rate was $363, occupancy 35.4 percent, and revenue per available night $141. Year over year, revenue is down 4.7 percent while active supply held flat at 0.0 percent growth , more listings didn't drive the dip; the market simply cooled slightly.

That's the file to cite for this town: a $363 average night, 35.4 percent occupancy, and a 3.4-night typical stay booked about 60 days ahead. Keep Oceanside's $34,813 on a separate line , it's a different sample, a different town, and a different guest.

Oceanside's Numbers: $34,813 on 97 Listings

Oceanside logged $34,813 in typical host revenue across just 97 active listings over the same period. That's a much smaller sample than Pacific City's 286 listings, which means single properties move the average more, and any given month's occupancy swing looks larger in percentage terms than it would in a bigger market.

Don't borrow Pacific City's occupancy, seasonality peak, or slow-month figures for an Oceanside listing. The smaller inventory here means guest demand concentrates differently, and a packet that averages the two towns together is already wrong before a host puts a number in front of a lender or a guest.

Don't Blend the Two Towns' Revenue Years

Both towns share a summer , August, June, and July are the strongest months, and February is the slowest , but a shared calendar isn't a shared identity. Pacific City's $40,828 and Oceanside's $34,813 come from different listing samples, different average rates, and different occupancy curves. Filing them as one blended “Oregon coast” number erases the very detail a lender, a co-host, or a guest is trying to find.

Keep the two years on separate lines: $40,828 across 286 listings for Pacific City, $34,813 across 97 listings for Oceanside, both AirROI trailing twelve months through July 2026. Professionally managed share across the combined sample runs about 54.5 percent, which still leaves meaningful room for owner-operators in both towns, as long as they market the town they're actually in.

Cape Kiwanda Belongs to Pacific City, Not Oceanside

Cape Kiwanda , the sand dune, the sea stack, and the dory-boat launch where fishing boats still run straight off the beach , is Pacific City's landmark, not Oceanside's. Oceanside's signature feature is different: a walk-through tunnel carved into the headland that opens onto a beach facing Three Arch Rocks, a National Wildlife Refuge home to nesting seabirds and one of the larger common murre colonies on the Oregon coast.

Photograph Cape Kiwanda only if a guest can actually walk to it from the listing, and photograph Three Arch Rocks or the Netarts Bay tunnel only for a stay that's genuinely in Oceanside. A gallery that shows the wrong town's landmark sets a guest up for a stay that doesn't match what they booked, and that mismatch shows up in reviews, not just in marketing.

This matters more here than in most twin-town comparisons because the two landmarks are genuinely different experiences: Cape Kiwanda is active and social, with dune climbers and dory launches drawing a crowd; Oceanside's beach is quieter and more of a wildlife-watching destination. Sell the right one.

Guests Who Book the Wrong Town

Most guests booking either town arrive from Portland, then Bend , a short-drive coastal getaway crowd rather than long-haul flyers. Typical stay length is 3.4 nights, booked around 60 days in advance, which gives hosts a reasonable window to correct a listing before a guest who wanted the other town's beach shows up expecting it.

A guest who searched “Pacific City rental” and lands on an Oceanside listing dressed up with borrowed dune photos isn't getting what they booked, and a guest who wanted Oceanside's quiet tunnel beach won't want a property marketed around Cape Kiwanda's crowds. The fix is a listing description and photo set that names the actual town and its actual landmark, not a caption written to appeal to both.

Port Orford Is a Different Coastal Market

Port Orford sits much farther south on the Oregon coast, in Curry County rather than Tillamook County, and it isn't part of this data pull. It's one of the oldest townsites on the coast and home to the country's only dolly-line boat hoist, which lifts the local fishing fleet out of the water onto the bluff since there's no protected harbor , a working-waterfront character that has little in common with Pacific City's dune-and-dory scene or Oceanside's quiet bay.

Don't build a single “Oregon coast” revenue year out of Pacific City, Oceanside, and Port Orford. Each is its own county, its own permitting desk, and its own guest draw. Port Orford's market data belongs in its own report when that coverage is built, not folded into this Tillamook County comparison.

How Hosts Should Split Marketing Between the Two Towns

Splitting these two markets correctly comes down to four things: file two separate host years ($40,828 across 286 listings for Pacific City, $34,813 across 97 for Oceanside), use two separate permitting references (both route through Tillamook County Community Development at 1510-B Third Street, but confirm current fees and hours before you promise anything to a guest or lender), photograph two separate landmarks (Cape Kiwanda for Pacific City, the Netarts Bay tunnel and Three Arch Rocks for Oceanside), and write two separate captions that name the town a guest can actually walk to.

Independent hosts still write most of the listings in both towns. Professionally managed share sits around 54.5 percent combined, meaning close to half the active inventory is owner-run. That's an opening: a precise, town-specific listing beats a generic “Oregon coast getaway” description on both search and guest expectations.

Frequently Asked Questions

How different are Pacific City and Oceanside as short-term rental markets?

Meaningfully different. Pacific City posted $40,828 in typical host revenue across 286 active listings; Oceanside posted $34,813 across just 97. Pacific City is the larger, busier market built around Cape Kiwanda; Oceanside is smaller and quieter, built around Netarts Bay and Three Arch Rocks. Treat them as two markets, not one Oregon coast average.

What do Pacific City's short-term rental numbers actually show?

For the trailing twelve months through July 2026, Pacific City averaged $40,828 in host revenue across 286 listings, with a $363 average nightly rate, 35.4 percent occupancy, and $141 revenue per available night. Revenue is down 4.7 percent year over year while supply held flat, meaning the dip reflects softer demand, not new competition.

What do Oceanside's numbers look like, and why is the sample different?

Oceanside averaged $34,813 across 97 active listings over the same period, roughly a third of Pacific City's inventory. That smaller sample means individual properties carry more weight in the average, so don't apply Pacific City's occupancy or seasonality directly to an Oceanside listing.

Do the two towns share the same peak season?

They share a calendar more than a market. August, June, and July are the strongest months for both, February is the slowest, and occupancy is weakest in January. But a shared summer doesn't mean shared revenue or occupancy levels, Pacific City and Oceanside still need separate host-year filings.

Which landmark belongs to which town?

Cape Kiwanda, the sand dune, sea stack, and dory-boat launch, is Pacific City's landmark. Oceanside's is the walk-through tunnel to a beach facing Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge, a seabird nesting site just offshore. Use each town's actual landmark in its own listing photos, don't cross them.

Where do most guests come from, and why does that matter for marketing?

Most guests booking either town arrive from Portland, then Bend, on a short coastal getaway of about 3.4 nights booked roughly 60 days ahead. Because these are repeat regional visitors who know the coast, a listing that mixes up the two towns' landmarks or descriptions is more likely to be noticed, and questioned, than it would be with out-of-state guests unfamiliar with the area.

Is Port Orford part of this Pacific City vs. Oceanside comparison?

No. Port Orford sits much farther south in Curry County and isn't covered in this Tillamook County data pull. It's a distinct working-waterfront market, home to the country's only dolly-line boat hoist, with its own permitting desk and guest draw. Cover it separately rather than folding it into a Pacific City/Oceanside average.

What's the simplest way for a host to keep these two markets straight?

File two host years, $40,828 across 286 listings for Pacific City, $34,813 across 97 for Oceanside, confirm current short-term rental permitting with Tillamook County Community Development for whichever town applies, photograph the landmark a guest can actually walk to, and write a caption that names the real town.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Pacific City's $40,828 across 286 listings and Oceanside's $34,813 across 97 are two different Oregon coast markets, not interchangeable neighbors. A listing that files the wrong town's number under its own name misprices the whole year.

We help Pacific City and Oceanside hosts keep each town's own revenue and permitting figures straight in their listing copy, instead of one blended coastal number.

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