As the hospitality industry continues to boom, with the U.S. market, currently valued at $93.07 billion, new data reveals which U.S. states have the highest earning hotel businesses, making the most annual revenue.
HotelTechReport analyzed industry data for each U.S. state, finding that Hawaii hotel businesses make the most revenue overall, with each business raking in $25.8 million on average per year. Hawaii has just 277 hotel businesses, in comparison to California which has 11 times more.
Despite having the fewest hotel businesses out of all 50 states, the District of Columbia takes second place when it comes to annual revenue, with each booming business making $21.6 million per year on average.
New York takes third place, however, due to the high number of hotel businesses in the state (2,314) each individual business makes more than three times less revenue ($6.3 million) than those in Hawaii or DC.
Florida and Massachusetts take the next two spots, with business here making similar amounts of revenue. However, when considering the number of hotel businesses in relation to the number of total businesses in the states, Florida has more (0.41% compared to 0.28%).
California hotel businesses make just more than $5 million in revenue, with this state employing the most hotel staff. 228,964 people currently work for hotel businesses in the state, which is phenomenal when compared to Delaware which has the lowest number, with 4,023 employees overall.
Each hotel business in Illinois, Nevada and Arizona is generating more than $4 million per year in revenue, while those in Maryland each generate $3.9 million on average.
Hotel businesses in Mississippi make the least revenue each year overall, with each business making $1.1 million. Interestingly, this state has a higher proportion of hotel businesses than any other state in the top 10, making up 0.88% of all total businesses.
North Dakota also makes the least amount of revenue ($1.3 million) and has the second lowest number of hotel staff overall, with just 5,267 people working for the 306 hotel businesses in the state. In proportion to the total number of businesses, however, the percentage of hotels is fairly high (0.92%) when compared to Massachusetts which has the lowest proportion (0.28%).
“As the U.S. hotel market continues to skyrocket, it’s interesting to see the industry’s footprint in each state, and the differences across the country, from revenue through to number of employees,” said Jordan Hollander, founder, HotelTechReport. “Hawaii is a very popular destination with some of the world’s most luxurious resorts, so it’s fascinating to see the financial impact of the hotels in the state, which is even more impressive when compared to other major tourist destinations like New York and Florida.”
The full breakdown:
- Wyoming has the highest number of hotel businesses as a percentage of total businesses, with 1.33%
- Massachusetts (0.28%) Connecticut (0.28%) and Rhode Island (0.32%) have the lowest number of hotel businesses as a percentage of total businesses
- Alongside California, Florida (179,522) and Texas (125,553) have the most hotel employees
- District of Columbia (119), Rhode Island (143) and Delaware (181) have the lowest number of hotel businesses.
| Geography | Number of hotel businesses | Total number of hotel employees | Number of hotel businesses as percentage of total businesses | Revenue per hotel business ($) |
| Hawaii | 277 | 40,067 | 0.55% | 25,811,058 |
| District of Columbia | 119 | 15,158 | 0.49% | 21,617,731 |
| New York | 2,314 | 87,725 | 0.34% | 6,259,171 |
| Florida | 3,485 | 179,522 | 0.41% | 5,978,995 |
| Massachusetts | 794 | 30,106 | 0.28% | 5,576,243 |
| California | 5,825 | 228,964 | 0.35% | 5,166,619 |
| Illinois | 1,471 | 50,537 | 0.36% | 4,424,841 |
| Nevada | 439 | 18,199 | 0.43% | 4,378,326 |
| Arizona | 1,082 | 44,384 | 0.55% | 4,352,384 |
| Maryland | 689 | 21,569 | 0.38% | 3,875,148 |
| Colorado | 1,354 | 48,346 | 0.57% | 3,791,210 |
| Vermont | 230 | 11,565 | 0.79% | 3,444,248 |
| Washington | 1,195 | 35,753 | 0.43% | 3,239,408 |
| Utah | 600 | 21,447 | 0.47% | 3,187,090 |
| Pennsylvania | 1,463 | 51,606 | 0.38% | 3,150,476 |
| Virginia | 1,540 | 45,967 | 0.50% | 3,109,348 |
| Louisiana | 912 | 22,564 | 0.62% | 2,910,773 |
| South Carolina | 1,110 | 30,532 | 0.68% | 2,898,925 |
| Alaska | 281 | 5,672 | 1.16% | 2,796,569 |
| Tennessee | 1,417 | 35,632 | 0.72% | 2,600,584 |
| New Jersey | 1,067 | 24,553 | 0.34% | 2,549,206 |
| Georgia | 2,081 | 45,961 | 0.58% | 2,417,830 |
| Texas | 5,515 | 125,553 | 0.70% | 2,339,932 |
| Missouri | 1,076 | 24,905 | 0.47% | 2,335,441 |
| Minnesota | 931 | 25,645 | 0.48% | 2,234,323 |
| Oregon | 974 | 22,385 | 0.56% | 2,203,448 |
| North Carolina | 1,839 | 43,325 | 0.55% | 2,198,276 |
| Idaho | 363 | 10,375 | 0.43% | 2,158,722 |
| Ohio | 1,416 | 34,298 | 0.44% | 2,116,667 |
| Wyoming | 384 | 7,686 | 1.33% | 2,102,995 |
| Michigan | 1,350 | 34,180 | 0.48% | 2,074,101 |
| New Hampshire | 326 | 8,075 | 0.53% | 2,054,549 |
| Maine | 477 | 8,572 | 0.79% | 1,961,549 |
| Indiana | 1,010 | 19,112 | 0.55% | 1,875,090 |
| Wisconsin | 1,136 | 28,509 | 0.59% | 1,873,733 |
| Kentucky | 750 | 14,556 | 0.55% | 1,761,199 |
| New Mexico | 648 | 15,343 | 0.95% | 1,737,432 |
| Montana | 515 | 9,559 | 0.90% | 1,546,082 |
| West Virginia | 317 | 7,182 | 0.57% | 1,541,628 |
| Nebraska | 455 | 7,365 | 0.58% | 1,463,352 |
| Oklahoma | 864 | 13,444 | 0.72% | 1,399,120 |
| North Dakota | 306 | 5,267 | 0.92% | 1,300,853 |
| Iowa | 751 | 12,763 | 0.69% | 1,288,691 |
| Kansas | 624 | 10,147 | 0.67% | 1,274,149 |
| South Dakota | 442 | 6,574 | 1.17% | 1,147,817 |
| Arkansas | 718 | 10,601 | 0.73% | 1,120,060 |
| Mississippi | 689 | 9,806 | 0.88% | 1,067,190 |
| Alabama | 886 | 17,348 | 0.62% | N/A |
| Delaware | 181 | 4,023 | 0.47% | N/A |
| Rhode Island | 143 | 4,481 | 0.32% | N/A |
| Connecticut | 375 | 10,568 | 0.28% | N/A |