Median STR Listing Price
$350k
Median across active STR-suitable listings. 1,000+ short-term rentals in market.
Diamond Density
55%
Share of Galveston STR listings that hit Diamond tier (≥24% bonus-eligible % of purchase price).
Bonus-Eligible %
24.6%
Median % of purchase price classifiable as 5-yr or 15-yr property under §168(k).
Federal Savings @ 37%
$32k
Median federal tax savings on a $350k purchase.
Galveston at a glance
- Rank: #17 of 50 (DepreciMax Top 50 · 2026)
- Median Year-1 deduction: ~$86,100 on a $350k STR
- Bonus-eligible %: 24.6% (market median, share of purchase price classifying as 5-year or 15-year property)
- Diamond density: 55% of Galveston STR listings hit ≥24% bonus-eligible % (national Diamond tier)
- Gold-or-better density: 76% of listings hit ≥22%
- Texas state §168(k) conformity: Full — full federal + state benefit
- Airbnb market depth: 1,000+ active short-term rental listings
Bonus depreciation (IRS §168(k)): a federal tax provision letting investors deduct 100% of qualifying property costs in the year the property is placed in service. For short-term rentals, the deductible portion is the 5-year (personal property) and 15-year (land improvements) components of the total purchase price. See
what bonus depreciation is for short-term rentals for the full explainer.
Bonus-eligible %: a DepreciMax metric — the share of a property's purchase price that classifies as 5-year or 15-year property under §168(k), and is therefore 100% deductible in Year 1. Galveston's market-median bonus-eligible % is 24.6% — meaning a typical $350k Galveston STR generates ~$86k of Year-1 deduction.
The 7-day STR rule: to unlock the "STR loophole" — where bonus depreciation offsets W-2 and other ordinary income, not just passive rental income — the property must average a guest stay of 7 days or less and the owner must materially participate. See
how to qualify for the STR loophole.
Free market scan
Rank every active Galveston listing by bonus depreciation potential
Sortable by Diamond / Gold density · updated daily · no login required
Why Galveston ranks #17 for STR bonus depreciation
Strongest Diamond-density STR profile in the Northeast — a third of Galveston short-term rentals hit ≥24% bonus-eligible % of purchase price. Cabin and lake-house amenity stack drives the 15-year improvement basis; state conformity state conformity reduces state-level benefit slightly, but federal Year 1 deduction is among the strongest on the list.
What drives Galveston's high bonus depreciation?
Galveston STRs lean heavily on the amenity categories the IRS classifies as 15-year land improvements: hot tubs, fire pits, outdoor kitchens, pergolas, and lake docks — all 100% bonus-eligible in Year 1 under §168(k). That amenity density pushes market-median bonus-eligible % to 24.6%, second only to Lake Cumberland KY (26.9%).
Does Texas conform to federal §168(k) bonus depreciation?
Only partially. Texas allows federal bonus depreciation to flow through, but adds back a portion at the state level and spreads it over a longer recovery period. The federal Year-1 deduction is unaffected — this is still a strong federal market — but the state portion of the savings is smaller than in fully-conforming states. PA-resident investors should model the state-federal split with their CPA before purchase.
Common bonus-eligible amenities in Galveston STRs
Prevalence of 15-year land improvements we typically see across Galveston short-term rentals — all 100% bonus-eligible in Year 1 under IRS §168(k):
Fire pit / fire feature
72%
Outdoor deck or wraparound porch
68%
Outdoor kitchen / BBQ area
38%
Pergola or covered patio
31%
Detached garage or barn
26%
Galveston, TX vs Lake Cumberland, KY vs Myrtle Beach, SC — bonus depreciation comparison
The three markets share a similar bonus-eligible % profile in the DepreciMax Top 50 — the differentiation is rank, price point, and state §168(k) conformity.
| Market |
Rank |
Diamond Density |
Median Bonus % |
Median Y1 Deduction |
State Conformity |
| Galveston, TX |
17 |
61% |
24.6% |
~$86k on $350k STR |
Full |
| Lake Cumberland, KY |
1 |
92% |
27.1% |
~$94k on $347k STR |
Full |
| Myrtle Beach, SC |
16 |
61% |
22.7% |
~$85k on $377k STR |
Full |
Deeper comparative reading: Smoky Mountains vs. Blue Ridge vs. Galveston: STR bonus depreciation showdown.
Galveston bonus depreciation calculator (by zip code)
Galveston spans 4 primary sub-markets with materially different STR economics. The calculator below has a zip dropdown — switch it to your area. The bonus-eligible percentage (Galveston's market-typical 24.6%) stays constant across zips because it reflects the property type, not the location. state conformity — federal deduction is the primary benefit.
Galveston zip code comparison
| Zip |
Sub-market |
Land ratio |
Typical price |
Typical Year-1 deduction |
| 77554 | Galveston West End (highest) | High | $350k | $79k |
| 77550 | Galveston (historic) | Moderate | $310k | $70k |
| 77551 | Galveston (mid) | Moderate | $295k | $67k |
| 77555 | Bolivar Peninsula (lowest) | Low | $265k | $60k |
Sample calculation: $350k Galveston STR (median-priced Lake Harmony listing)
- Purchase price: $350,000
- Galveston market median: 24.6% of purchase price classifies as bonus-eligible 5-yr + 15-yr property under §168(k)
- Year-1 §168(k) deduction: $86k
- Federal tax savings at 37% bracket: $64.1k
See IRS Publication 946 for §168(k) rules. Use the interactive calculator below to model your specific deal.
Looking for a deeper read on your specific property, not just the market median? Run the $99 Galveston property report — Claude Opus analyzes 7–9 listing photos against the IRS classification rules and returns a line-item §168(k) estimate closely calibrated to a formal $5K–$8K cost seg study.
Representative listings & deductions
Three live Galveston listings spanning entry, mid, and high price tiers. Year 1 deduction is estimated as a range around the Galveston market bonus-eligible average (24.6% ± 3 percentage points). Click any card to run a full property report to tighten to one exact number.
How to use this data to underwrite a Galveston STR deal
The market-median numbers on this page are a screening tool, not a final answer. Here's how STR investors and their CPAs actually convert a market rank + median bonus-eligible % into an underwriting number for a specific offer.
- Screen the deal against the market median. If a Galveston listing is priced within the p25–p75 range ($512k–$1,010k) and looks like a typical cabin or lake-house STR, the market-median 24.6% bonus-eligible is a defensible screening estimate. That gives you a Year-1 deduction range you can plug into an initial underwriting model in about 60 seconds — before you invest CPA time or offer-drafting effort.
- Adjust up or down based on amenity signals. Galveston properties with a full outdoor stack (hot tub + fire pit + wraparound deck + outdoor kitchen + pergola) trend toward the Diamond tier at 24–30% bonus-eligible. Properties with minimal outdoor amenities — condos, indoor-only cabins, or properties without lake access — trend toward the Bronze tier at 18–20%. Use the amenity checklist to categorize before you commit.
- Model the offer with the deduction baked in. Take the estimated Year-1 deduction × your federal marginal rate (typically 37% for high-earner STR investors) = federal tax savings. Add this to your effective Year-1 cash-on-cash return. On a $350k Galveston STR at 24.6% bonus-eligible, that's ~$32k in federal savings — often 8–12% of purchase price flowing back into Year-1 cash. Texas's partial conformity means state-level savings are minimal for PA residents, so pure-federal math dominates.
- Verify with a $99 property-level report before you sign. Once you're past screening and preparing to make an offer, run the specific property through DepreciMax's photo-analysis pipeline. The $99 report tightens the estimate to a single number, line-items the 5-year / 15-year / 39-year breakdown, and delivers a calibrated Year-1 number closely calibrated to a formal cost segregation study's bonus-eligible %. Your CPA can build the return directly from this output; a formal engineered study (typically $5,000–$8,000) is only necessary post-closing for IRS-defensible filing on very large deductions or high-scrutiny audit risk.
For further reading on the pre-offer bonus-depreciation workflow, see how to use §168(k) before closing on a short-term rental. To catch missed prior-year bonus depreciation using Form 3115, see the Form 3115 catch-up guide.
How the rank is calculated
Galveston's #17 rank comes from the DepreciMax Top 50 methodology: we score every active STR-suitable listing across the nation's most-watched STR markets on land value, state §168(k) conformity, and amenity mix, then rank markets by the median bonus-eligible % of their active listings. Individual property estimates are closely calibrated to a formal cost segregation study.
More detail in the Top 50 Markets methodology section.
Sources & verification:
Published: 2026-07-12 · Last updated: 2026-07-12
Sample listings are real active for-sale listings — actual addresses shown. Bonus depreciation outcomes vary by individual property; this page estimates ranges for typical purchases. Not tax advice — consult your CPA before making investment decisions.
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