How These 10 College Towns Turn Football Saturdays Into a Mortgage-Paying Goldmine by 2026—And What You Need to Know Now

In This Article

It’s still 94 degrees out, but everyone has collectively decided it feels like fall; somebody’s uncle is already furious about a backup quarterback he has never watched play a snap; and 100,000 people are about to drive four hours to sit on hot aluminum and scream at 19-year-olds.

Football season is also the most dependable revenue spike a short-term rental gets all year in a few select cities. It’s six or seven Saturdays where your nightly rate does things it would never do in June.

I pulled AirDNA data on more college markets than I am proud of to figure out which towns actually turn that into money. Then I did the part nobody does and read the zoning ordinance in every single finalist. That second step took about nine hours, and it reordered the whole list.

Reality Check

Are these the 10 best short-term rental markets in America? Not really, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.

If you want pure returns with no strings attached, there are markets out there with better math and simpler rules that have nothing to do with football. Half these towns have a fall rate premium under 1.3x, which means the football effect is close to a rounding error on their annual revenue. Several have zoning rules that limit what you’re allowed to buy. And one or two would not make anybody’s top 100 if you took the stadium away.

If one of these towns is already on your radar because you went there, your kid is going there, or you live two hours away and know which streets are which, then football season is a real tailwind. Six or seven weekends when your rate doubles are genuine money, and it shows up clearly in the data.

What I would not do is buy a house 900 miles away in a town you have never visited because a team is ranked 11th. Every market on this list has a specific catch, which I put in each entry. Read those before you fall for a yield number.

How I Ranked These

I started with the home markets of the top 50 programs. Programs playing inside major metros got cut first, because a 100,000-seat stadium in a metro of 2 million disappears into the noise, and the data proved it. 

Markets too thin to read a rate curve went next. Twenty-two made the full workup.

Each one got scored on five things:

1. Revenue yield after property tax (35%): Annual STR revenue divided by the Zillow Home Value Index, less the estimated effective property tax rate for a non-owner-occupied property. This is a market-comparison metric, not a property-level return. It does not subtract management, cleaning, utilities, insurance, furnishing, maintenance, or platform fees.
2. In-season lift (30%): The single highest month between September and November, divided by the average of June and July. I ran that for 2023, 2024, and 2025 and averaged the three. It’s designed to capture a market’s biggest football-month rate spike, not its full fall-season average.
3. Revenue trend (20%): Year-over-year revenue change.
4. Appreciation (10%): One-year change in home value.
5. 2027 recruiting class (5%): 247Sports Composite team rank. It’s a small, forward-looking proxy for program relevance, expected fan demand, and the odds that future home schedules will remain commercially interesting. It does not predict returns on its own. It matters enough to me as a tiebreaker to carry 5%.

And unofficially, whether the town is a ghost town from February through August, because a few of these very much are.

Revenue, ADR, occupancy, and supply figures are AirDNA market estimates for the trailing 12 months through July 2026. Home values are Zillow Home Value Index figures pulled in August 2026. Regulations were reviewed in August 2026 and are constantly changing. All of it is a market-level estimate, not a projection for any specific property.

Two gates sit on top of the score. A market with revenue down more than 5% over the trailing year didn’t make this list. That’s a screening rule, not proof that no individual deal can work there. And a market where a remote investor can’t operate at all is out.

The preseason poll rank is here for context and carries zero weight. I tested it against returns. I’ll show you where it breaks at the end.

One more thing before the list: This is a market-level screen, not a property-level pro forma. AirDNA numbers are market estimates, not a promise about a specific house.

Before you buy anywhere on this list, confirm that a non-owner-occupied whole-home rental is legal at that exact address, verify any night limit and whether a permit is actually available, and read the HOA or condo documents.

Honorable Mentions

State College, PA (Penn State)

The only market I removed on regulation, and it stung, because it produced the highest gross revenue of anything I studied at $46,825. State College permits short-term rentals only when the property is the primary residence of an owner or tenant living there for eight-plus months a year. Adjacent College Township caps them at 30 nights. 

Auburn, AL

It was the second-best football premium in the entire study at 2.14x, but the numbers still say no. Supply grew 29% last year while occupancy fell 10.7% and revenue dropped 10%. Auburn houses run $423,354, which puts revenue yield at 6.7%.

College Station, TX

The No. 1 recruiting class in America, and it missed the top 10. Revenue was down 4.2%, with flat appreciation and 1.50% tax. The football signal is real at 1.63x. Permits are workable: $100 plus a $100 inspection fee, $75 to renew, and a monthly hotel occupancy tax owed to both the city and Brazos County. 

Knoxville, TN

Tennessee’s 0.37% effective property tax is the cheapest carry anywhere in this study. What kept it out of the top 10 is 2,685 active listings, more supply than any market here, and a 1.06x fall premium. 

If you shop it anyway: Type 1 permits require that the property be your principal residence, so an investor needs a Type 2, which is only available in nonresidential districts. Buy downtown or mixed-use.

Lincoln, NE

Nebraska has sold out every home game since 1962. Everybody who wants to watch Nebraska play already lives in Nebraska. The rules are clear, though: a $250 annual license, most residential zones qualify, and no night cap.

And without any further ado, here’s the top 10.

10. Columbus, OH (Ohio State Buckeyes)

• Revenue: $35,143
• Median home price: $248,686
• Revenue yield: 12.7%
• ADR: $170.23
• Occupancy: 62%
• In-season lift: 0.98x

Why it works

The highest occupancy of anything I studied was 62% on a house under $250,000. Columbus has an economy that has nothing to do with Saturdays. It’s the home of Intel, Nationwide, a giant hospital system, and a convention calendar that never really stops. That’s why it books in February while neighboring Oxford sits empty.

Football update

Ohio State opens No. 1 in the country with the seventh-ranked 2027 class.

Investor angle

Ohio State is the best team in America, and Columbus is 10th on this list. Sit with that for a second, because it’s the whole argument of the last section of this article.

The market posts a 0.98x lift, meaning a football night costs a hair less than an average night. I zoomed into the campus submarket looking for any signal at all, and October still finished behind May, which is graduation plus the Memorial Tournament. Home values also slipped 1% last year.

Rules are easy here. You’ll need an annual permit through the Department of Public Safety, which is $150 a year for an investment property plus a $20 application and a $32 background check. You disclose that you don’t live there, and that’s the end of it. No night cap.

You do need a local responsible party and $300,000 in liability coverage that specifically names short-term rental use.

9. Columbia, MO (Missouri Tigers)

• Revenue: $29,920
• Median home price: $327,680
• Revenue yield: 8.3%
• ADR: $158.50
• Occupancy: 58%
• In-season lift: 1.25x

Why it works

Revenue climbed 15.6% last year while the number of listings dropped 2.7%. Fewer properties splitting more money is about the best setup an existing operator can ask for. Columbia is also one of only three towns here where fall revenue beats summer revenue outright.

Football update

Missouri sits 25th in the coaches’ poll with the 28th-ranked 2027 class.

Investor angle

The top earner in this market is a 12-bedroom on 51 acres. It opens 125 nights a year and generates $99,000 in revenue. The listing that put “Mizzou Stadium” right in its title finished dead last of the top eight.

There’s a reason a 12-bedroom can exist: 51 acres almost certainly puts it outside city limits. Inside Columbia, the rules get specific in a hurry: Every short-term rental is capped at eight occupants. The city issues one license per owner, so a portfolio is off the table. 

And if you don’t live in the property, you need a conditional use permit from the City Council to rent it for more than 120 nights, with a cap of 210 nights. Downtown and mixed-use zones get looser treatment.

Compliance runs in three steps, and they have to happen in order: zoning clearance, then rental inspection, then business license.

So the play here is on country land or a downtown parcel, not a four-bedroom in a neighborhood.

8. Columbia, SC (South Carolina Gamecocks)

• Revenue: $36,303
• Median home price: $230,662
• Revenue yield: 14.6%
• ADR: $178.39
• Occupancy: 61%
• In-season lift: 1.02x

Why it works

Columbia has the third-best revenue yield of all 22 markets. A $230,662 house pulling $36,303 at 61% occupancy actually pays you in March, which almost nothing else on this list does.

Football update

South Carolina is receiving votes but sits outside the top 25, with its 2027 class ranked 27th.

Investor angle

Here’s what actually decides whether you can buy: Columbia allows short-term rentals outright in mixed-use, activity center, commercial, and employment-campus districts. If you want a residential base zone, a non-owner-occupied rental has to front a four-lane street classified as a major arterial, minor arterial, or collector. Most neighborhood houses don’t. So shop commercial and mixed-use first.

The city also adopted a 365-day moratorium on new residential STR permits starting in June 2025. Whether that expired, got extended, or was replaced by something else is exactly the kind of thing that changes between when I write this and when you read it. Ask the city in writing before you go under contract.

7. Norman, OK (Oklahoma Sooners)

• Revenue: $29,336
• Median home price: $265,617
• Revenue yield: 10.1%
• ADR: $187.66
• Occupancy: 47%
• In-season lift: 1.23x

Why it works

Revenue was up 12.2% last year, the third-best on the board, on a home price that still starts with a 2. There were only 558 active listings.

Football update

Oklahoma enters at No. 9 with the fifth-ranked 2027 class.

Investor angle

Norman has the cleanest rulebook I found in nine hours of reading these things:

• Short-term rentals are allowed in every zoning district except the industrial ones. 
• No owner-occupancy requirement anywhere in the city. 
• A license runs $150 plus a $50 annual inspection. 

Planned unit developments require council approval, so check with the council before you make an offer.

One trap worth knowing: The city’s guest tax published rate is 8%, but Norman put a proposition on the April 2026 ballot to raise it to 10% and extend it to RV spaces, so verify the current number before you price out anything.

September rates hit $226, compared to $172 in summer. Real, but modest.

6. Iowa City, IA (Iowa Hawkeyes)

• Revenue: $34,270
• Median home price: $305,824
• Revenue yield: 9.5%
• ADR: $177.33
• Occupancy: 60%
• In-season lift: 1.23x

Why it works

This was the best growth story in the study. Revenue was up 18.8%, while occupancy was up 12.4% and rates up 7.8%. Supply was down 3.6%. This market grew revenue by nearly 19% while losing listings.

Football update

Iowa opens 22nd with an unranked 2027 class, which cost it a couple of spots in my scoring.

Investor angle

With only 291 active listings, this was the smallest market on this list. I saw that number and assumed a permit squeeze. I was wrong in the other direction.

Iowa preempts city STR regulation at the state level. Any stay of 30 days or less counts as residential use, and cities can’t ban them, cap them, add conditional-use hurdles, or charge an STR-specific permit fee. Iowa City requires a rental permit and compliance with the housing code. That’s the entire list.

Iowa’s 1.71% property tax is the highest anywhere on this list, and it’s the only real drag on the yield. 

One more thing worth a look: Three of the eight top earners in Iowa City are log cabins outside town. The secluded cabin 15 minutes out beats the house you can walk to Kinnick from. That pattern showed up in six different markets in this study, and it’s the most consistent thing I found.

5. Lubbock, TX (Texas Tech Red Raiders)

• Revenue: $29,154
• Median home price: $212,191
• Revenue yield: 12.2%
• ADR: $164.38
• Occupancy: 53%
• In-season lift: 1.26x

Why it works

The cheapest real door on this list. A $212,191 house earning $29,154 works out to 13.7% before Texas takes its cut, and Lubbock County takes 1.51% of it. 

Football update

Texas Tech comes in at No. 12 with the ninth-ranked 2027 class, second-best recruiting in this top 10.

Investor angle

Football is not why you buy in Lubbock. The fall premium is 1.26x, and the highest-rate month of the year is May. Texas Tech graduation outearns Texas Tech football, which I checked three times before I believed it.

Buy it because it’s a cheap house in a market with 6.8% revenue growth. You’ll need an STR permit and to remit monthly taxes on occupied guest nights.

4. Athens, GA (Georgia Bulldogs)

• Revenue: $38,028
• Median home price: $344,516
• Revenue yield: 10.2%
• ADR: $265.88
• Occupancy: 45%
• In-season lift: 1.71x

Why it works

Athens doesn’t win any single category, but it finishes near the top of most of them: Revenue was up 7.6%. A 1.71x fall premium. A tax rate of 0.82% that won’t hurt you.

Best detail in the market: Athens lost 7.2% of its listings last year and raised rates 17% anyway. Supply walked out the door, and the operators who stuck around collected.

Football update

Georgia opens third in the country with the 12th-ranked 2027 class.

Investor angle

Read this before you get excited about the No. 4 ranking: Athens is not an easy market for a remote investor, and the rate data is doing all the work here.

Athens-Clarke County runs two STR categories. A Home Occupation permit requires you to be the owner-occupant or a long-term tenant, which rules out anyone buying from out of town. A Commercial STR drops that requirement but is zoning-dependent and needs a Special Use Permit.

That permit is discretionary, and the commission has not been friendly to them. In January 2026, they denied one, and the minutes have several commissioners saying they oppose the process generally. 

So Athens is a specific-address market. Buy in a qualifying commercial zone, budget for a public hearing, and don’t sign anything you can’t walk away from if the vote goes badly.

3. Oxford, MS (Ole Miss Rebels)

• Revenue: $41,703
• Median home price: $419,443
• Revenue yield: 9.1%
• ADR: $438.41
• Occupancy: 33%
• In-season lift: 2.21x

Why it works

This is the most football-dependent market in America. It has the highest nightly rate anywhere in the study: $438; lowest occupancy: 33%.

A night in Oxford costs $277 in July and $611 in September. And it doesn’t drop back down after. September, October, November, and December all clear $500.

Think about what 33% occupancy actually means. The average house there sits empty two nights out of every three, all year long, and still produces $41,703. That’s what 28,000 people and a 64,000-seat stadium do to a rate calendar.

Football update

Ole Miss enters 10th with the 14th-ranked 2027 class.

Investor angle

Here’s the strange part, and I only found it by reading the actual Land Development Code: Oxford doesn’t cleanly classify a non-owner-occupied whole-home short-term rental as a use. The code addresses an owner-occupied bed-and-breakfast, which is a special exception in the AG, RCN, ER, SR, and NR districts. A regular Airbnb where nobody lives full-time isn’t on the table of uses.

That is not the same as permission. The code states that an omitted use isn’t automatically allowed, and Section 1.9 delegates interpretation of omissions to the Planning Director. So whether your specific house qualifies comes down to a written determination, and you want that in hand before you close, not after.

For what it’s worth, I also found no code provision expressly imposing an owner-occupancy mandate, an annual night cap, or a 1,500-foot separation rule on a whole-home rental. People repeat all three online. The separation rule appears to belong to Oxford, Mississippi. But because the use isn’t clearly classified, the absence of a restriction doesn’t mean a green light.

2. Tuscaloosa, AL (Alabama Crimson Tide)

• Revenue: $37,800
• Median home price: $232,816
• Revenue yield: 15.3%
• ADR: $360.85
• Occupancy: 34%
• In-season lift: 2.04x

Why it works

Fall nights average $513 against $252 in July. That’s about 2.04 times July’s rate, or 104% higher, and it lands on a 34% annual occupancy rate. 

So Tuscaloosa sits quiet most of the year and then becomes the most expensive address in Alabama for seven Saturdays. There are currently only 525 active listings, the second-thinnest supply in the study.

Football update

Alabama enters 11th. Its 2027 recruiting class ranks 41st nationally.

Investor angle

Now, the part that decides your deal, and it’s the single most important sentence in this article: For a residential dwelling in the applicable Tourist Overlay area, Tuscaloosa allows short-term rental operation by right for no more than 45 days per calendar year. Going beyond that may require discretionary approval.

That $37,800 revenue figure is a market average. It includes grandfathered operators and approval holders running full calendars. At $360 a night, 45 nights gets you to roughly $16,000. If you’re buying by right, underwrite 45 nights and treat any approval as upside rather than the plan. Call the Office of Urban Development, give them the exact address, and get the night count in writing.

One more thing: Alabama assesses owner-occupied homes at 10% of value and rentals at 20%. Your effective rate doubles the day you list it, so budget 0.90%, not the 0.45% published.

1. South Bend, IN (Notre Dame Fighting Irish)

• Revenue: $39,546
• Median home price: $202,170
• Revenue yield: 17.7%
• ADR: $285.89
• Occupancy: 46%
• In-season lift: 1.82x

Why it works

South Bend finished 18 points clear of second place, the widest gap on the board, by winning nearly every category at once. A typical house costs $202,170, and the average listing earns $39,546. Revenue is up 7.7%. Home values are up 6.9%, the fastest appreciation in the study. September rates run 82% above the July floor.

Football update

Notre Dame opens fifth with the second-ranked 2027 class, behind only Texas A&M.

Investor angle

The 46% occupancy rate scares people off, and it shouldn’t. Six or seven Saturdays at $433 a night is the whole model, and Irish alumni will fly in from Phoenix for a 6-6 season.

Here’s the comparison I want stuck in your head: Ann Arbor produces $38,872 per listing, within $700 of South Bend. A typical Ann Arbor house costs $536,036. You’d be paying an extra $334,000 for identical revenue and a better football team. Only one of those shows up in your cash flow.

There are two things to watch anyway. The Common Council held a public meeting in July 2026 about regulating STRs and floated annual permits plus public owner contact info, which is the mild end of what a city can do. Nothing passed. Check the agenda before you close. 

And Indiana caps non-homestead rentals at 2% of assessed value while giving them none of the homestead deductions, so budget 1.9%, not the 0.86% any county lookup shows you.

Final Play Call: What the Data Actually Says

1. The best football markets are the hardest ones to buy into

Three of the five largest fall-rate premiums I measured are in towns with the tightest rules:

• Tuscaloosa at 2.04x with a 45-day by-right limit
• State College at 1.80x with a primary-residence mandate
• Athens at 1.71x behind a discretionary permit

That is not a coincidence. Football pushed rates so high in those towns that investors poured in, neighbors got loud, and the council responded. The thing that creates the premium is the thing that creates the restriction.

2. Football is a rate event, not a volume event

Across the 17 markets where I could read monthly occupancy, I did not find one where fall occupancy consistently beat summer. In this sample, the football effect showed up far more reliably in nightly rates than in booked nights. You’re usually monetizing a handful of higher-value weekends, not counting on a broad lift in annual occupancy.

3. Poll rank and recruiting rank don’t reliably predict returns on their own

Recruiting tested negative against revenue in this sample. Texas A&M has the No. 1 class in America, and College Station didn’t crack the top 10. Oregon is ranked second in the country, and Eugene finished dead last out of 22. Ohio State is No. 1, and Columbus posts a 0.98x football premium.

I still gave recruiting 5% of the score as a forward-looking tiebreaker because college football relevance is part of what this list is trying to capture in the first place.

4. Published property tax averages understate what an investor pays

County effective rates get averaged across a pool full of owner-occupants claiming homestead exemptions and assessment treatment you don’t get. I checked five states, and each one understated the non-owner-occupied tax bill. Alabama assesses rentals at double the owner-occupied ratio. Indiana caps rentals at 2% while denying them any homestead deductions.

That’s a lot of numbers. If you’ve had AirDNA, Zillow, and ESPN open in three tabs for the last 20 minutes, I get it. 

So do what Lee Corso did every Saturday morning for almost 40 years: Reach under the desk, pull out the mascot head, and commit. That’s how you go from tab-hopping to the Heisman of hosts.