Cook County Airbnb Nets 2.7% After All Costs

After all costs, Cook County's short-term rental net yield lands at 2.7%, ahead of long-term rental's 1.8%, but the headline 92% gross premium shrinks once Airbnb fees, lodging tax, and host-borne utilities are stacked against it.

This article runs the after-cost numbers for both a 3-bed house and a 2-bed apartment because the cost structures look different. Apartments enter at lower price points but pay HOA fees that houses skip. Houses skip HOA but cost almost double up front and carry their own utilities and insurance burden. The after-cost picture is what determines whether the gross premium is real.

The 3-Bed House: Net Yield Lands at 2.7%

For a typical 3-bed house at $377,500, the after-cost picture compares short-term rental against long-term rental on the same property:

Both columns assume self-management. The Airbnb host-only fee of 15.5% is platform-specific; Vrbo charges around 5%, Booking.com around 15%, and direct bookings carry no platform fee. Build per line is documented in the data sources.

Airbnb Fees, Lodging Tax, and Self-Paid Utilities Take the Premium

The 3-bed house grosses $38,833 on Airbnb against $20,207 as a long-term rental, a 92% headline gap. That gap collapses for three structural reasons. First, Airbnb's host fee takes $6,019 every year, roughly 15.5% off the top. Second, the host pays $2,928 of utilities that a long-term tenant typically covers; the long-term column reflects only the smaller landlord-borne portion during vacancies. Third, Cook County applies a 14.75% combined lodging tax (state, county, and city), costing $2,427 on this revenue base.

Insurance and maintenance run higher for short-term rentals as well. The $3,765 insurance line reflects the higher risk profile of a furnished, frequently turned-over unit, and the $6,189 maintenance figure includes furnishing replacement on a rolling cycle, which long-term landlords do not carry. Net of all of this, the 3-bed house lands at 2.7% short-term against 1.8% long-term, a real gap, but a fraction of what the gross premium implied. For context, the house gross yield of 5.4% sits 1.2pp below the Illinois median of 6.6% and 0.1pp above the national median of 5.3%.

The 2-Bed Apartment: Lower Entry, HOA Drag

The 2-bed apartment enters at $192,887, well below the $377,500 house price. The after-cost stack runs as follows:

HOA fees of $2,752 appear in both columns because the cost is property-level, not strategy-dependent.

House Wins Short-Term, Apartment Wins Long-Term

The apartment's short-term net yield of 2.1% compares against the house's 2.7%; long-term, it's 3.8% against 1.8%. Yield is a return-on-capital ratio, so the lower-priced apartment generally posts higher percentages even when dollar income is smaller. Absolute dollar income shifts the picture: the house clears $10,028 on Airbnb against the apartment's $3,998, and $6,784 long-term against $7,268. Investors deploying more capital and running short-term tend to favor houses, where dollar cash flow is highest. Investors with limited equity, or those running long-term, tend to favor apartments, they post both higher percentage yields and (in this market) slightly higher long-term dollar income.

The structural drag on the apartment column is HOA fees of $2,752 per year, which apply whether the unit is rented short-term or long-term. HOA budgets sometimes cover building utilities and exterior insurance, which can offset some of the line items the apartment otherwise carries. The dashboard models a conservative version where the unit owner pays both. Investors should pull the actual HOA disclosure before committing, because what the fee covers varies building by building. Cook County also has a stark suburb split: dense urban condo buildings carry HOA fees well above the county median, while suburban townhome associations often run lighter.

The Gross Break-Even Sits at 23% Occupancy

23% is the occupancy at which short-term gross revenue equals long-term annual rent, a gross floor rather than a net target. Cook County's market median occupancy runs at 45%, well above the floor. A unit running below the median during a soft season is plausible. Running below 23% would mean Airbnb is grossing less than a tenant would have paid outright, which is a hard floor, not a likely scenario in this market.

View Cook County in the dashboard → Free preview · every bedroom count and property type

Hiring a Manager Drops Net Yield by Over Two Points

The tables above assume the owner self-manages. Hiring a short-term rental manager typically costs around 22% of gross revenue, roughly $8,543 a year on the 3-bed house at this price and revenue point. With professional management included, net yield on the house drops from 2.7% to 0.4%. Operators charge differently; the 22% figure is a market estimate, not a contractual quote, and full-service managers handling listings, guest communication, cleaning coordination, and dynamic pricing tend to sit at the higher end.

For long-term rentals, a property manager typically charges around 9% of monthly rent, adding around $1,908 per year. That brings the 3-bed house's long-term net yield from 1.8% down to 1.3%. Self-managing investors capture the full table values; outsourcing investors give up roughly 2.3 percentage points of yield on the short-term side and around 0.5 points on the long-term side in exchange for time saved.

Property Tax and Depreciation Drive the After-Tax Picture

Cook County's effective property tax rate of 2.0% is among the higher rates in the country, which is why $7,477 appears in both columns of the house table. Property tax is by far the largest single cost in the long-term column and one of the largest in the short-term column. Combined with the 14.75% lodging tax applied to short-term gross revenue, Cook County investors carry a heavier tax load than investors in lower-rate states. That weighting is part of why Cook County's net yields run below state averages even where headline gross yields look strong.

On the federal side, both rental strategies qualify for 27.5-year residential depreciation. The depreciable building value here is estimated at $302,000 (around 80% of sale price), producing an annual deduction of around $10,982. Short-term rentals reported on Schedule C may face self-employment tax if substantial guest services are provided; passive long-term rentals report on Schedule E and avoid that. Illinois state income tax applies on top of federal. The dashboard runs the after-tax math automatically, but investors should verify deduction eligibility with a CPA before committing capital. The full build is documented in the market score methodology.

Regulatory Load Is Light Outside Evanston

Permit required ($150) in Evanston. Vacation rentals require annual $150 license. Current moratorium on new licenses until March 2026. Proposed changes include 600-foot separation, limit to 25 licenses per ward, and higher fines. Total tax: 7.5% city + 1% Cook County + 6.25% state = 14.75%.

Most of unincorporated Cook County permits short-term rentals with a $150 annual license, and the moratorium currently in place applies specifically to Evanston, where new licenses are paused through March 2026. Investors targeting Evanston specifically should verify license availability before purchase. The 14.75% combined lodging tax (city, county, and state) applies across the county and is reflected in the $2,427 line of the house table and the $1,531 line of the apartment table.

Suburb-Level Variation Spans the County

Cook County's after-cost yields are county medians; individual ZIP codes diverge substantially across the 167 ZIPs in the county, with top-yield neighborhoods running far above the median while denser urban ZIPs run below. The dashboard surfaces every neighborhood by bedroom count and property type, so an investor can see exactly which Cook County ZIP gives the best net yield given current entry prices and rents. Explore rental data in the dashboard to drill into specific neighborhoods.

Compare against after-cost analyses for similar markets:

• Illinois Rental Investment Insights
• Chicago's Airbnb Premium Shrinks After All Costs Are Paid

Data reflects market conditions as of May 2026.

This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial or legal advice. Regulations and market conditions change frequently. Verify current rules with local authorities before making investment decisions.