How Much Can Your
Wyoming Property Earn?

Sheridan County is not Teton County. That's its advantage. While Jackson Hole competes on prices that require a $1.2M median home purchase to generate a meaningful return, Sheridan's vacation rental market is still early enough that well-managed properties can hit strong occupancy rates without competing against institutional inventory. Here's what the numbers actually look like.

Average Daily Rate by Season

Sheridan County vacation rental pricing follows a clear seasonal curve with one dramatic outlier:

• WYO Rodeo Week (July 8–13): ADR spikes to $250–$450/night for quality properties. This one week represents a disproportionate share of annual revenue for well-positioned downtown properties. Demand outstrips supply significantly — properties that are vacant during this week are leaving real money behind.
• Peak Summer (June–August, ex. rodeo week): $150–$250/night for 2–3 bedroom properties. Occupancy in the 75–85% range for well-listed, professionally managed units.
• Shoulder (May, September–October): $110–$175/night. Occupancy drops to 50–65%, but this is the margin-positive period — lower overhead, fewer turnovers, guests who stay longer. October hunting season creates secondary demand.
• Off-Season (November–April): $90–$130/night for the right properties. Monthly rentals become attractive — snowbirds heading south sometimes break their trip, and remote workers from larger cities are an increasingly reliable off-season segment.

Occupancy: Year 1 vs. Year 2

The first year of operating a vacation rental is typically the worst-performing year, regardless of market. New listings lack reviews, algorithms don't favor new properties, and owners are still learning their pricing sweet spots.

• Year 1 (realistic): 45–60% annual occupancy. Revenue will likely undershoot projections. This is normal — it's calibration, not failure.
• Year 2 (with professional management): 65–80% annual occupancy for well-positioned properties. Reviews accumulate, search ranking improves, repeat guests begin to emerge.
• Year 3+: Stabilized at 70–85% with a mix of channel and direct bookings. This is when the numbers make sense relative to property costs.

The biggest variable in this trajectory is management quality and pricing responsiveness. Properties managed with dynamic pricing tools and professional photography consistently outperform DIY operations by 20–35% in year one.

The WYO Rodeo Effect

No conversation about Sheridan vacation rental revenue is complete without addressing WYO Rodeo week. The annual PRCA rodeo in July draws 10,000+ visitors to a county of 30,000 people — and Sheridan has nowhere near enough hotel rooms to absorb that demand.

For a 3-bedroom downtown property that rents at $180/night in normal summer conditions, WYO Rodeo week can realistically command $300–$400/night for 5+ nights. That single week can represent 8–12% of a property's entire annual gross revenue. A property that stays vacant during rodeo week is effectively giving up a month's worth of normal-rate income.

The key is availability: owners who block their property during rodeo week (to stay themselves or for family) are making a legitimate choice, but they should understand the dollar cost of that choice.

Property Types That Perform Best

• Downtown Sheridan (2–4 bed): Highest demand, highest ADR, easiest to fill year-round. Walkability to restaurants and the WYO Rodeo shuttle is a genuine premium driver. These properties punch above their square footage in revenue.
• Mountain / foothills (Story, Dayton area): Lower year-round occupancy but high summer demand from outdoor-focused guests — hikers, hunters, fly fishers. Seasonal occupancy variance is higher. Better for owners who want personal use in off-peak periods.
• Highway corridor (south Sheridan): Lower ADR but easier to fill with business travelers, rodeo overflow, and last-minute bookings. Less desirable for premium positioning but reliable mid-tier performers.

The Channel Fee Problem

If your property earns $200/night on Airbnb, you are not grossing $200/night. After Airbnb's host fee (typically 3%) and the guest service fee (12–14%), the effective cost to the guest is $226–$228, but your net is $194. Over a year of bookings, that's a meaningful gap — and it doesn't include the compounding cost of channel dependency.

Properties that build a direct booking channel over 2–3 years consistently outperform pure-channel operators by 15–25% on net revenue for the same gross booking volume. Direct bookings carry no channel fees, allow direct guest relationships, and create repeat business that compounds.

The math is simple but most STR owners don't execute on it: every direct booking saves 13–17% in fees. A property doing $60,000 in annual gross revenue converting even 30% to direct bookings saves $2,300–$3,000/year — money that goes directly to the owner, not the platform.

What a Licensed Property Manager Does for Your Numbers

Owner-managed properties often underperform not because of location or quality, but because of three specific execution gaps:

• Pricing lag: Manual pricing can't respond fast enough to demand signals. A rodeo booking that fills in April at $180/night could have commanded $320/night if the rate was adjusted in March when demand first spiked.
• Response time: Airbnb's algorithm rewards sub-1-hour inquiry responses with better search placement. Professional management operations have systems for this. Most owners don't.
• Turnover coordination: Cleaning, restocking, and property inspection between same-day turnovers requires logistics that break down under individual owner management at scale.

A licensed property manager with dynamic pricing tools and professional photography typically offsets their management fee (usually 18–25% of gross) by recovering revenue that would otherwise be left on the table through pricing gaps, faster response rates, and higher review scores.