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Free TrialUse this free rental vacancy rate calculator to see what share of your units are empty, how many days they sat vacant over a month, quarter or year, and how much rent those empty days cost you.
How to calculate rental vacancy rate
Your vacancy rate is the share of your rental units that aren't bringing in rent. There are two common ways to measure it. Counting empty units gives you a snapshot of today. Counting empty days gives you a picture of a whole period, which matters more when you own one rental or a handful, because a single empty unit makes the snapshot jump. The calculator does both, and turns the empty days into lost rent.
Physical vacancy rate (by units)
- Total units are every unit you rent out, occupied or not.
- Vacant units are the units with no tenant on the day you count.
If 2 of your 20 units are empty, your vacancy rate is 2 ÷ 20 × 100 = 10%, and your occupancy rate is 90%. Because it's a count on a single day, the number can change the moment a tenant moves in or out.
Vacancy rate by days
- Rentable days are the days your units could have been rented: total units × days in the period. Subtract any days a unit was off the market for a renovation or your own use.
- Rented days are the days each unit had a tenant during the period, added up across all units.
A single-family home that was rented 347 days of a 365-day year sat empty 18 days, so its vacancy rate by days is 18 ÷ 365 × 100 = 4.93%. If you leave Total Rentable Days blank, the calculator uses total units × days in the period.
Rent lost to vacancy
Monthly rent × 12 ÷ 365 is one day of rent, and it's the same whichever period you choose, so a full year of vacancy costs exactly 12 months of rent. A 30-day month is a little shorter than an average month, so 30 empty days come to slightly less than one month's rent. Average Monthly Rent per Unit is optional; leave it blank if you only want the rates.
Physical vs. economic vacancy
You'll also see the term economic vacancy, especially in commercial and multifamily underwriting. It measures money rather than units or days.
| Measure | What it counts | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| Physical vacancy | Empty units today | Vacant units ÷ Total units |
| Vacancy by days | Empty unit-days over a period | Vacant days ÷ Rentable days |
| Economic vacancy | Rent you didn't collect | (Gross potential rent − Rent collected) ÷ Gross potential rent |
Economic vacancy picks up everything that keeps rent out of your account: empty units, free-rent concessions, unpaid rent and leases below market rent. It is usually equal to or higher than your physical vacancy. This calculator measures the empty units and empty days part of it. To find your full economic vacancy, compare the rent you actually collected over the period with what every unit would have brought in at market rent.
Example: a 50-unit building over one month
Three of 50 units are empty today. Over the last 30 days, the units were rented a combined 1,400 days, and the average rent is $1,500 a month. Total Rentable Days is left blank, so the calculator uses 50 × 30 = 1,500.
| Result | Calculation | Calculator shows |
|---|---|---|
| Physical vacancy rate | 3 ÷ 50 × 100 | 6.00% |
| Occupancy rate | 100% − 6.00% | 94.00% |
| Occupied units | 50 − 3 | 47 |
| Vacancy rate (by days) | (1,500 − 1,400) ÷ 1,500 × 100 | 6.67% |
| Est. rent loss | 100 days × $1,500 × 12 ÷ 365 | $4,932 |
The two rates tell slightly different stories. Today 6% of the units are empty; over the month, empty days added up to the equivalent of about 3.3 units sitting vacant the whole time. At about $49.32 a day, those 100 days cost roughly $4,932 in rent.
What is a good vacancy rate for a rental property?
There's no single right number, but these ranges are a useful guide and are what the calculator's rating uses:
- Under 5%: low. Your units rent quickly and tenants stay.
- 5% to 8%: average. Normal turnover between tenants for most rentals.
- Over 8%: high. Worth checking your rent, the condition of your units and your listings.
Your local market matters more than any national figure. The U.S. Census Bureau's Housing Vacancy Survey publishes the national and regional rental vacancy rate every quarter, and in recent years the national rate has generally been between about 5% and 8%. Rates vary a lot from one city to the next, so compare yourself with similar rentals near you.
A 0% vacancy rate isn't always good news either. If units never sit empty and every listing fills within days, your rent may be below what the market will pay. It's worth a look before your next round of renewals. Our guide to how much and how often to raise rent covers how to set increases without losing good tenants.
How to use your vacancy rate
- Budget for it. When you analyze a rental, take vacancy off the gross rent before you count on the income. Enter your rate in the rental property ROI calculator or the rental yield calculator to see how it changes your return.
- Measure the same way each time. Run the days section over the same period, such as each quarter or each year, so you're comparing like with like. With fewer than about 10 units, a full year by days is the most useful figure.
- Shorten turnovers. Most vacancy happens between tenants. Scheduling cleaning, paint and repairs before move-out day, as described in surviving the turn when a lease ends, gets units back on the market sooner.
- Start renewals early. Offering a renewal 60 to 90 days before a lease ends gives you time to find a new tenant if the current one decides to leave.
- Screen for tenants who stay. A tenant who renews year after year is the cheapest vacancy fix there is. Thorough screening helps you find them.
Counting rented days by hand gets tedious past a few units. Keeping every lease's start and end dates in one place, as RentPost does, makes the numbers for this calculator easy to pull each period.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate the vacancy rate of a rental property?
Divide the number of vacant units by the total number of units and multiply by 100. If 2 of your 20 units are empty, your vacancy rate is 2 ÷ 20 × 100 = 10%. For a single rental, count days instead: divide the days it sat empty by the days it could have been rented.
What is a good vacancy rate for a rental property?
Under 5% is generally considered low, 5% to 8% is typical, and anything above 8% is worth a closer look. What counts as good depends on your local market, so compare your rate with nearby rentals and with the U.S. Census Bureau's Housing Vacancy Survey, which publishes national and regional rental vacancy rates every quarter.
What is the difference between physical and economic vacancy?
Physical vacancy counts empty units. Economic vacancy measures rent you could have collected but didn't, as a share of your gross potential rent. Besides empty units, it includes free-rent concessions, unpaid rent and leases below market rent, so it is usually equal to or higher than physical vacancy.
How do I calculate the vacancy rate for a single-family rental?
Use days. A house that was rented 347 days of a 365-day year sat empty 18 days, so its vacancy rate is 18 ÷ 365 × 100 = 4.93%. At $2,000 a month, those 18 days cost about $1,184 in rent (18 × $2,000 × 12 ÷ 365). Open the days section of the calculator to run your own numbers.
What vacancy rate should I use when analyzing a rental property?
Many investors budget 5% to 10% of gross rent for vacancy, and use the local rental vacancy rate instead when it is higher. Once you have a year or two of your own history, use that. Enter the figure as the vacancy rate in our rental property ROI calculator or rental yield calculator.
Is a 0% vacancy rate good?
Not always. Zero vacancy is great for a month or a quarter, but if your units never sit empty and always rent within days, your rent may be below what the market will pay. Check similar listings before your next renewals.
How is occupancy rate different from vacancy rate?
They are two sides of the same number. Occupancy rate is the share of units that are rented, and it equals 100% minus the vacancy rate. A building with a 6% vacancy rate has a 94% occupancy rate.
