Where Memphis Airbnbs Actually Earn: The Neighborhood Map by Real Revenue
Ranked by what listings actually earned in the past year, not nightly rate: East Memphis, Cooper-Young, and South City lead, while the highest-supply areas trail.
Most where-should-I-buy-an-Airbnb advice ranks Memphis neighborhoods by nightly rate. That is the wrong number. A high rate with a soft calendar loses to a moderate rate that stays booked, and the only honest way to score the blend is the number that combines them: what listings actually earned over the past year.
We observe every Memphis short-term rental nightly, and our live market tracker publishes each area's median ACTUAL annual revenue, refreshed every morning. Here is how the map reads as of July 2026.
The earnings leaders inside the city
Among areas with sizable listing pools, the medians run:
- South City: about $27,700 a year on a $158 median rate.
- Cooper-Young: about $26,600 on $163.
- East Memphis (38117): about $26,300 on $196, the strongest rate-and-earnings combination in the city.
- 38112 (Binghampton/Broad corridor): about $26,000 on $160.
And the areas everyone assumes lead, do not:
- Midtown 38104, the biggest supply pool in the city with about 445 tracked listings, medians about $21,300.
- Downtown 38103: about $19,500. Heavy supply, event-dependent demand, and the median listing splits the difference.
The divergence that teaches the lesson
Look at 38114: one of the higher median nightly rates in the city at about $180, yet median annual earnings under $20,000. A brochure ranked by rate puts it near the top. The earnings number puts it near the bottom of this list. Rate is what you charge; revenue is what you keep. This is the same lesson our failure study reaches from the other direction: listings priced 25 percent or more above their market fail at three to four times the rate.
How to use this map
- Buying: start from median annual revenue, then ask what separates the top quartile from the median in that area. Our neighborhoods guide covers the character of each area; the tracker carries the live numbers.
- Already own there: your area's median is your benchmark, not your ceiling. Survivors beat their area median through operations, reviews, and pricing discipline, not through the zip code.
- Deciding whether to host at all: the area median is the market's answer. What your specific street earned is the real one, and that is the math we walk through in should you Airbnb your Memphis house.
One caveat on metro comparisons: suburbs like Southaven post higher medians (about $35,800), but they sit outside Memphis Ordinance 5631's permit regime and carry different rules entirely. Compare inside the rulebook you will actually operate under.
Figures are market medians from our nightly tracking as of July 2026 and move with the market; the tracker page carries the current numbers.
Quick answers
Which Memphis neighborhood makes the most money on Airbnb?
By median actual annual revenue among sizable listing pools, the leaders inside the city run South City at about $27,700, Cooper-Young at about $26,600, and East Memphis (38117) at about $26,300 per year as of July 2026. The highest-supply areas, Midtown 38104 and Downtown 38103, trail at roughly $21,300 and $19,500.
Does a higher nightly rate mean a Memphis Airbnb earns more?
Often not. The 38114 area posts one of the higher median nightly rates at about $180 but earns under $20,000 a year at the median, while areas with moderate rates and steadier occupancy out-earn it. Annual revenue, not the nightly rate, is the number that pays the mortgage.
Where can I see current Memphis Airbnb numbers by area?
Our Memphis Airbnb market tracker publishes per-area listing counts, median nightly rates, and median annual revenue from our nightly observation of every Memphis listing, refreshed every morning.
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