Texas Airbnb hosts in rural counties earned over $115 million in 2021

By Judy J. Beasley Last updated Dec 25, 2022

Airbnb says it has hosts in more rural areas than ever before as people’s habits have changed during the pandemic.

According to Airbnb’s own data, national room nights in rural areas booked by U.S. guests increased 110% in 2021 compared to 2019. In total, hosts in rural counties nationwide gained more than 3, $5 billion last year.

Airbnb hosts in rural Texas counties brought in more than $115 million in 2021.

Sam Randall, spokesperson for Airbnb, said the rental trend in rural communities has accelerated during the pandemic. Rather than booking stays in major cities and destinations, many travelers have chosen rural areas, he said.

“What we’ve seen during the pandemic is that people have started to really spread out,” Randall said. “Instead of traveling to a few destinations, people have started traveling to thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of destinations around the world.”

He said Airbnb hosts in rural communities see this opportunity and take it.

Some hosts “can potentially use a guest suite or any additional property or second home they might have to earn some really impressive passive income,” Randall said.

For Ryan Hand and her husband, Jonathan Conrad, Airbnb is part of the couple’s retirement plan.

The 37-year-old started as a host in 2019 at Spotted Sheep Farms in Texas wine country in Fredericksburg. The property has a villa, cabin and farm, and there are sheep, donkeys and alpacas on the grounds. The location is popular for couples getaways, girls’ weekends or even family getaways, he said.

He’s also paying off three of his mortgages on properties he owns across Texas, Hand said.

Airbnb hosting allows the couple “to continue to have the kind of income and hobbies that we want while taking care of everything and being able to enjoy it,” he said.

The average Airbnb host in rural Texas earned nearly $12,000 in 2021, and 92 cities and towns saw their first-ever Airbnb guests since the pandemic began.

Last year, new Airbnb hosts statewide brought in $170 millionthe third highest in the country.

Airbnb says people booked stays in more than 72,000 cities and towns this summer in the US

This month, Airbnb has announced a plan to crack down on house parties in rentals by blocking overnight bookings from users without any positive reviews on the platform.

For Hand, Airbnb has become a very profitable job as he works full-time in commercial real estate.

“It’s really a secondary thing,” Hand said. “We handle everything ourselves, from reservations to guests.”