More than 20,000 guests stayed at Airbnb rentals in Milwaukee in 2016, according to a new report from Airbnb, the peer-to-peer home and room rental site.
Milwaukee’s Airbnb hosts earned $2.1 million of income from the rentals.
Statewide, 105,000 people stayed at Airbnb rentals this year, up 164 percent from last year. There are now 2,600 Wisconsin Airbnb hosts—up 73 percent year-over-year—who earned a total of $13 million from the stays.
According to Airbnb, 32 percent of Wisconsin’s Airbnb hosts rent out an extra rooms in their homes.
The next largest Wisconsin Airbnb market after Milwaukee is Madison, which had 19,000 guests this year. Hosts in the Madison market earned $2.5 million total.
Green Bay, Lake Geneva and Sturgeon Bay also saw their fair share of Airbnb stays, with 3,500, 2,200 and 2,100, respectively.
Milwaukee-area municipalities Wauwatosa, Shorewood and Sheboygan also made the top 20 Wisconsin list. Wauwatosa welcomed 850 Airbnb guests in 2016 and its hosts earned $101,000, Shorewood hosted 780 guests for $115,000 and Sheboygan had 830 Airbnb guests, earning its hosts $130,000.
BizTimes Milwaukee recently wrote about the rise of the sharing economy in a two-part cover story about Bublr Bikes and services like Airbnb.