Panama City Beach, FL: A Data-Driven Vacation Rental Market Analysis (2026)
Panama City Beach sits at the heart of Florida's Emerald Coast, and its sugar-white sand keeps it one of the most-searched short-term-rental markets in the Southeast. But "popular" and "profitable" are not the same thing. This vacation rental market analysis breaks down what an active Airbnb listing in Panama City Beach actually earns — using live STRmetrics data pulled from public Airbnb marketplace listings, not guesswork.
Panama City Beach STR Market at a Glance
Median ADR: The median average daily rate is $185 per night — the midpoint across every active listing we sampled. This is the number to benchmark your own nightly pricing against.
Forward occupancy: Forward occupancy is running at 82.2%, meaning that share of the next 90 nights is already booked or blocked across sampled calendars. That is a strong demand signal for a beach market and reflects Panama City Beach's long, spring-through-summer season.
RevPAR: Revenue per available night lands at $152. RevPAR blends ADR and occupancy into a single profitability yardstick — the most honest way to compare two listings.
What an Active Listing Earns
Estimated monthly revenue per active listing is $4,633, which annualizes to roughly $55,591. For an investor underwriting a purchase, that top-line revenue estimate is the starting point for a real cash-flow model once you subtract cleaning, management, platform fees, and debt service.
Median ADR by Bedroom Count
- 1BR median ADR: $184 (from 13 listings)
- 2BR median ADR: $178 (from 1 listings)
- 3BR median ADR: $204 (from 1 listings)
- 5BR median ADR: $805 (from 1 listings)
Bedroom mix drives pricing power. Use these tiers to sanity-check whether your unit is priced to its size and to spot where the market is thin (small samples mean more volatility in the estimate).
How to Use This Analysis
- Underwriting a purchase? Anchor your revenue assumptions to the $4,633/month figure, then haircut it — you are not the median operator on day one.
- Already hosting? If your ADR trails $185 while your calendar is full, you are leaving money on the table; test higher rates on peak weekends first.
- Occupancy below 82.2%? Your pricing or listing quality — not the market — is the constraint. The demand is clearly there.
The Bottom Line for 2026
Panama City Beach in 2026 is a high-occupancy, mid-ADR beach market: 82.2% forward occupancy against a $185 median nightly rate produces $152 RevPAR and about $55,591 in annual revenue per active listing. It rewards operators who keep calendars full and price seasonally rather than chasing the highest nightly rate. Numbers were computed from 20 live Airbnb listings and refresh daily via STRmetrics.
Want these exact metrics for any other market — or programmatic access to underwrite a whole portfolio? The STRmetrics API returns live occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, and revenue for any city on demand.