Which Cities In The World Have The Cheapest Airbnb Prices? [15,000+ Listing Data Analysis]

Key Takeaways

• Asia and Africa offer cheaper Airbnbs, but South America is the most affordable continent overall.
• The most expensive cities in which to rent a private room on Airbnb are San Francisco, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Los Angeles.
• The cheapest cities to rent a private room on Airbnb are Salvador, Brazil; Belo Horizonte, Brazil; and Lima, Peru.

To save you money for your next vacation or long-term travel, we decided to analyze the Airbnb rates of major cities and find the average daily rate.

We stuck to private rooms since that requirement lines up with the vast majority of our readers interests!

Since there are thousands of cities worldwide on Airbnb, we restricted our analysis to the 250 most populous cities. That way, you’ll know how the biggest cities in the world compare against each other.

We wanted to be sure that no outliers skewed our research, so we restricted our analysis to cities with at least 50 relevant listings. Then, we averaged the daily rates of the first 50 relevant listings in each city. All told, we went through well over 15,000 listings.

Finally, we excluded listings above $100 per night since there are plenty of rooms for less than $100 in even the most expensive cities!

Interactive Map

We figured that it’s easier to convey all of this information visually, so we made an interactive map with all of the prices of the different cities on it. If you hover your mouse over a circle, you can see the name, country, and average Airbnb rate of that particular city.

What jumped out to us from first glance was that the major cities in America and western Europe were the most expensive, major cities in Eastern Europe and South America were the cheapest, and major cities in China tended to be in the middle.

We decided to check our intuition with the hard data.

Average Daily Airbnb Rate by Continent

As would be expected, major cities in North America (which are almost all in America) are the most expensive. Europe averages out to the middle since you have very expensive cities in Western Europe (like London) and very cheap cities in Eastern Europe (like Budapest).

While Asia and Africa had cheap rooms, South America was by far the cheapest continent of all.

Hot Tip: Regardless of how much you’re spending, be sure to use a credit card that helps you earn lots of points on Airbnb rentals.

Most Expensive Airbnb Cities

Since America is the richest country in the world, the housing prices in major cities reflect that.

One surprise to us was that San Juan was so high. It is a territory of the United States, but it’s not as well-known as the other cities. Our guess is that because it’s isolated on an island and doesn’t get as many visitors as the other cities, the price is higher.

We’d like to reiterate that these prices are averages. If you go at the right times and book your room early enough, you can get great deals even in the most expensive cities.

For example, we just looked right now in New York (today it’s June 27, 2018) and saw this room:

It’s in Manhattan, the most expensive section of New York City, but it only costs $39 a night and is a short distance away from major attractions.

Keep in mind that if you wait until the last minute, your wallet might suffer. This room is listed on the front page at $86 a night:

But if you try and book in a couple of weeks, you’re going to have to pay $131 a night:

Of course, that’s assuming you can even find a room at the last minute. A lot of the highest rated rooms are booked well in advance. This room costs $91 a night and has 238 reviews:

And is booked for the entire next month:

Needless to say, the further out you book, the higher a chance you have of getting a good rate.

If you are new to Airbnb, keep in mind that the prices on the search page aren’t always reflective of the actual price you’ll pay. Sometimes you’ll pay more, sometimes you’ll pay less.

Cheapest Airbnb Cities In The World

Ten of the cheapest cities are in Brazil. This makes sense since it’s the fifth most populous country in the world but is not nearly expensive as America or European countries.

Before you travel to any of these cities (or anywhere for that matter), you need to make sure it’s safe. There are several sites online where you can get advice on how dangerous a country is.

The U.S. Department of State maintains a list of every country and how dangerous it is. It’s a helpful resource when deciding where you want to travel to.

Something else to keep in mind is to check how much of the population speaks English.

In Brazil, only 5 percent of the population speaks fluent English. On the other hand, you can see that Chennai is at the bottom of our list and is India, which has the second-biggest English speaking population in the world.

Average Daily Airbnb Rates in America

If you want to find a large, cheap city to travel to in America, you have a few options. We found seven major cities with an average Airbnb rate under $40.

While we’re not trying to discourage you from traveling to major cities like San Francisco or New York, you will pay for the privilege. The average Airbnb is more than twice as expensive as the cheaper AirBnb cities.

Keep in mind that the cheapest worldwide cities overall an average Airbnb daily rate around $15. If you’re in America and looking for a place for a sabbatical, it might make financial sense to stay in a cheaper country.

When you combine savings of 20 dollars or more a night with the cheaper cost of living, you might save in the long run even if you have to pay for an international flight.

Average Daily Airbnb Rates in Europe

As you can see below, the rates in Europe can vary quite a bit. One night in Rome will cost you 30 more dollars than a night in Athens.

Most cities in the bottom half are in Eastern Europe while cities in the top half are in Western Europe.

If you do want to make a long trip to Europe and want to see the more popular yet expensive cities (like Paris), you can save by mixing the cheaper cities with the more expensive cities. It’s relatively easy to get around Europe, just use the EuroRail.

Average Daily Airbnb Rates in South America

Since South America had the cheapest rates overall, there are a lot of inexpensive places to travel to. A lot of these places don’t have a large English-speaking population so keep that in mind.

One city that you might want to look into for a longer stay is Buenos Aires. It’s cheap and 42% of Argentinians speak some English. The U.S. Department of State says that Argentina is a safe country overall, though there is some risk of street crime like pickpocketing.

We found it notable that there wasn’t a single costly city in South America. The priciest city in South America, Santa Cruz, had the 97th highest Airbnb rates of all the cities we analyzed.

If you’re looking to do a long trip and see a few major cities, it’s worth looking into South America. There are many cities spread across different countries, all at an affordable rate.

Average Daily Airbnb Rates in Africa

While not as cheap overall as South America, there are some affordable, English-speaking cities in Africa you could consider traveling to.

If you’re open to traveling to South Africa, there are four South African cities on our list that offer rooms for under $35 a night. 31% of the South African population speaks English, so you should be able to communicate just fine.

Average Daily Rates in Asia

Since it’s the most populous continent, it makes sense that 94 of the cities analyzed are in Asia.

Where you travel to in Asia can dramatically impact the cost of your Airbnb. The more expensive cities will cost you an extra 20 dollars a night or more.

There are several options for cheaper stay in Asia. India has the second largest English speaking population and has 11 cities on our list for under 30 dollars a night.

If you want to see several cities, you could make a trip through Southeast Asia and stay at several of the cities on our list. You could travel to Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia while not needing to spend over 30 dollars a night.

Conclusion

Where you stay in the world can have a huge impact on the price of the Airbnb daily rate you’ll pay.

We encourage you to do extensive research before you plan your next trip and book your next Airbnb stay. A little planning can save you a lot of money!

We hope you found our research useful and wish you well on your next vacation, wherever you may go.

If you want to see all of the results of our study, you can see the complete city breakdown here: