Property
The bathroom premium nobody underwrites
Everyone prices bedrooms. Almost nobody prices baths.
+22% for a 2nd bath
Based on
498,021 active US listings
Key finding: Among 498,021 active US listings, a 4-bedroom home with one bathroom earns about 22% less than an otherwise similar 4-bedroom with two bathrooms, within the same ZIP and bedroom count.
The short version
Bedrooms get all the attention when people buy and price short-term rentals. Bathrooms get treated as a rounding error. The data says that is a mistake. The second bathroom lines up with a large revenue gap, and the pattern shows up across every bedroom tier. If you own a property with a spare-bathroom opportunity, or you are shopping for one, this is a number worth underwriting.
The data
We looked at 498,021 active US listings across the country.
Within the same ZIP code and the same bedroom count, a 4-bedroom with one bath earns roughly 22% less than a 4-bedroom with two baths.
The pattern holds across every bedroom tier, not just 4-bedroom homes.
That makes the second bathroom one of the most underpriced features in the whole listing.
That is the finding. One headline number, and the fact that it repeats across bedroom counts.
Why it works
A second bathroom changes who can comfortably book. Two couples, or a family with teenagers, will pay more to avoid sharing one bathroom. It also widens the pool of guests who consider the listing at all, so the calendar fills at higher rates. Search filters reward it too, since many travelers set a minimum bathroom count and one-bath homes simply drop out of their results. The bedroom tells guests how many people can sleep there. The bathroom tells them how many will actually enjoy the stay.
What to actually do
Underwrite the bathroom, not just the bedroom count. When comparing two properties in the same area, treat a second bath as a real revenue lever rather than a nice-to-have.
If you have an unused closet, a large hallway, or an oversized primary suite, price out adding a second bathroom and weigh the cost against a revenue gap of this size.
Check your own listing against same-ZIP, same-bedroom neighbors. If you have the extra bath and you are not priced above the one-bath homes nearby, you are leaving money on the table.
The honest caveats
This is a correlation, not a controlled experiment. We are comparing listings within the same ZIP and the same bedroom count, but two-bath homes may differ from one-bath homes in other ways, such as square footage, layout, or overall quality. So the 22% gap should be read as the value the market places on that class of home, not a guarantee that adding a bathroom returns exactly 22%. It tells you the gap is real and consistent. It does not prove that a renovation pays back at that rate for any single property.
Methodology
The finding comes from 498,021 active US listings, using IntelliHost and Key Data, in 2026. We compared realized revenue across listings while holding ZIP code and bedroom count fixed, then measured the difference associated with bathroom count. Holding ZIP constant controls for local demand and seasonality. Holding bedroom count constant isolates the bathroom as the variable that moves.
Frequently asked questions
How much more does a second bathroom add to short-term rental revenue?
In this data, about 22%. A 4-bedroom with two baths earned roughly 22% more than a 4-bedroom with one bath in the same ZIP, and the pattern held across bedroom tiers.
Does the bathroom premium only apply to large homes?
No. The 22% figure comes from 4-bedroom homes, but the same one-bath-versus-two-bath gap showed up across every bedroom count we looked at.
Should I add a second bathroom to my rental?
The data shows a consistent 22% revenue gap tied to that second bath, which makes the renovation worth pricing out. Just remember the number is correlational, so compare the build cost against your own market rather than assuming an exact payback.