What top Airbnbs earn — town by town
Income by Gold Coast market
Ranked by gross yield — median income from successful hosts (4.8★+, 30+ reviews) divided by typical asking price. Tap any market to break it down by bedroom count. Markets with too few qualifying rentals show a dash rather than a misleading number.
| # | Market | Gross yield | ADR | Occupancy | Revenue / yr | RevPAR (p25·med·p75) | Entry price | Momentum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ›Playas del CocoHome market Papagayo (North) · 157 top operators | 5% | $146 | 61% | $20,264 | $55 · $80 · $106 | $419,000 | ▲ 0% |
| 2 | ›Playa Potrero / Las Catalinas Flamingo & Catalinas · 186 top operators | 4% | $277 | 59% | $34,994 | $76 · $121 · $178 | $795,000 | ▲ 0% |
| 3 | ›Playa Ocotal Papagayo (North) · 90 top operators | 4% | $215 | 57% | $22,786 | $45 · $81 · $185 | $515,000 | ▲ 0% |
| 4 | ›Playa Flamingo Flamingo & Catalinas · 87 top operators | 4% | $304 | 63% | $44,229 | $110 · $154 · $217 | $1,035,000 | ▲ 0% |
| 5 | ›Tamarindo Conchal & Tamarindo · 600 top operators | 4% | $220 | 62% | $31,194 | $66 · $104 · $198 | $749,000 | ▲ 0% |
| 6 | ›Playa Hermosa Papagayo (North) · 91 top operators | 4% | $285 | 62% | $49,599 | $99 · $165 · $283 | $1,199,000 | ▲ 0% |
| 7 | ›Playa Avellanas Tamarindo South · 156 top operators | 4% | $308 | 55% | $28,819 | $44 · $96 · $252 | $764,000 | ▲ 0% |
| 8 | ›Playa Conchal / Brasilito Conchal & Tamarindo · 113 top operators | 3% | $252 | 59% | $31,683 | $47 · $102 · $183 | $1,065,000 | ▲ 0% |
| 9 | ›Playa Grande Conchal & Tamarindo · 127 top operators | 3% | $230 | 62% | $28,910 | $56 · $105 · $225 | $987,500 | ▲ 0% |
| 10 | ›Playa Panama Papagayo (North) · 1 top operators | — | $4,933 | — | — | — | $7,500,000 | New |
Tap a market to break it down by bedroom band. Perf is proven operators only (4.8★+, 30+ reviews); segments (and markets) with fewer than the minimum qualifying operators withhold RevPAR & yield rather than mislead.
Source: AirROI API (trailing 12 months), refreshed 2026-07-19. Perf figures (ADR, occupancy, revenue, RevPAR) are the median across proven operators only — listings with a 4.8★+ rating and 30+ reviews — deduplicated by listing, so the bar reflects experienced hosts, not part-timers. Entry price is the real median for-sale asking; implied gross yield = top-operator median revenue ÷ median asking, matched by bedroom band in the drill-down. Momentum compares median RevPAR to the prior monthly snapshot. Markets below the minimum sample show a dash. Add ~5–7% appreciation for total return.
Snapshot 2026-08 · vs 2026-07. Want property-level revenue & ranks? Open the rent leaderboard.
Why this exists
Most Costa Rica rental projections are fiction
Agents quote gross, peak-season numbers borrowed from beachfront villas a kilometer away. We do something more useful for a serious buyer: show what the proven operators in each market actually earn — 4.8★+, 30+ reviews — deduplicated and shown as ranges, with thin samples suppressed rather than guessed.
This index is the corridor-level view. For a specific property, the investment map runs neighborhood-level comps within a few hundred meters of the exact coordinates.
Methodology
- ADR, occupancy, revenue & RevPAR are the median across proven operators only — 4.8★+ rating, 30+ reviews — per market (trailing 12 months), deduplicated by listing.
- Implied gross yield = top-operator median revenue ÷ the real median for-sale asking in that market (matched by bedroom band in the drill-down).
- Markets (and bed bands) below the minimum operator / for-sale sample show a dash instead of a misleading number.
- This is a top-quartile benchmark by design: the bar a strong host should aim for, not the average part-timer's result.
- Refreshed monthly. Citations welcome — link back to this page.
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