ποΈ Occupancy Rate Calculator
What share of your units actually earn rent?
Share of units occupied
Estimates for planning only, not financial advice.
Occupancy rate is occupied units divided by total units: the share of your rental property actually earning rent. Ninety-two occupied out of 100 is 92 percent occupancy and 8 percent vacancy. It is the utilization metric every rent forecast, valuation, and lender underwrite starts from, because empty units earn nothing while still costing taxes, insurance, and maintenance.
How to Use This Calculator
Enter occupied units and total rentable units. The calculator returns occupancy, vacancy rate, and the vacant count. For economic occupancy, which weights by rent actually collected, adjust occupied units for partial payments and concessions.
Count units with paying tenants in place. Exclude units under renovation unless they could be leased today.
Enter total rentable units. Do not count owner-occupied or permanently offline units.
Read occupancy and vacancy. Feed vacancy into income forecasts with our net operating income calculator.
The Occupancy Rate Formula
Physical occupancy counts units; economic occupancy counts rent collected versus maximum potential rent. A building can be 95 percent physically occupied but 88 percent economically occupied if tenants pay late, get concessions, or occupy discounted units. Lenders underwrite on economic occupancy, which is the stricter and more honest number.
Worked Example
A 100-unit building has 92 units leased and paying. Occupancy is 92 percent; vacancy is 8 percent; 8 units sit empty. If each unit rents for $1,500, the 8 vacant units cost $12,000 a month in forgone rent, or $144,000 a year. Cutting vacancy from 8 to 5 percent adds $54,000 of annual revenue without raising a single rent.
Reading Your Result
Healthy occupancy runs 93 to 97 percent for stabilized residential; sustained 100 percent usually means rents are below market. Below 90 percent, diagnose fast: is it a demand problem (price, marketing, condition), a turnover problem (tenants leaving faster than you fill), or a market problem (everyone is soft)? Each has a different fix.
My rule: watch economic occupancy, not just physical. A full building of tenants on heavy concessions and late payments is not a healthy building. Track collected rent as a share of gross potential rent monthly; when it trails physical occupancy by more than a few points, collections or concessions are the leak. For the income statement view of the same building, our net effective rent calculator prices concessions honestly.
Estimates for planning only, not financial advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is occupancy rate?
Occupancy rate is occupied units divided by total rentable units, times 100. It measures what share of a rental property is leased and earning rent. 92 occupied units out of 100 is 92 percent occupancy. Hotels call it occupancy too but measure sold rooms over available rooms nightly.
What is the difference between occupancy and vacancy rate?
They sum to 100 percent: vacancy is the share not occupied. Investors quote occupancy (how full), while underwriting often uses vacancy (how empty) to haircut income forecasts. Same fact, two framings. A 5 percent vacancy rate and 95 percent occupancy describe the identical building.
What is economic occupancy?
Rent actually collected divided by gross potential rent. It captures concessions, late payments, and discounted units that physical occupancy misses. A building 95 percent physically occupied can be 88 percent economically occupied. Value-add investors buy low economic occupancy and sell the turnaround story.
What is a good occupancy rate?
93 to 97 percent is healthy for stabilized residential property. Hotels use different benchmarks (60 to 75 percent is often fine). Below 90 percent sustained signals a problem worth diagnosing; constant 100 percent suggests underpriced rents. Self-storage runs hotter: 85 to 90 percent is often full for that asset class.
How does occupancy affect property value?
Directly through net operating income: value equals NOI divided by cap rate, and NOI scales with occupancy. Each point of occupancy on a 100-unit building at $1,500 rents is worth $18,000 a year in revenue, capitalized into six figures of value.
Should I count units under renovation?
Only if they could be leased today. Units genuinely offline for renovation are usually excluded from both numerator and denominator until rentable. Counting them as vacant understates true performance; counting them as occupied overstates it. Down units during renovation still count in economic occupancy at zero rent: the drag shows.
How fast should vacant units lease up?
A reasonable target is 30 to 45 days per turn in normal markets. Longer vacancies point at pricing, condition, or marketing. Track days-vacant per unit, not just the occupancy snapshot, to find slow leasers. Lease-up velocity matters more than the snapshot: 30 days vacant twice a year beats 60 once.
Does occupancy include non-paying tenants?
Physical occupancy counts leased units regardless of payment; economic occupancy excludes what is not collected. A tenant in eviction proceedings occupies the unit physically while contributing nothing economically, which is why both measures exist. Squatters and holdovers muddy physical counts: economic occupancy cuts through the noise.
How do lenders view occupancy?
They underwrite to economic occupancy with a vacancy haircut, often assuming 5 to 10 percent vacancy even for full buildings. Volatile occupancy history raises the perceived risk and can shrink loan proceeds. Agency lenders like Fannie Mae bake vacancy assumptions into every multifamily quote.
Can occupancy be too high?
Yes, as a pricing signal. Years at 100 percent with a waiting list mean rents sit below market and the owner is donating money to tenants. Selective increases that settle occupancy near 95 percent usually maximize revenue. Revenue management software now tunes rents daily to hold that 95 percent sweet spot.