What a typical RV park spends
In Newmark's review of 62 RV parks, revenue averaged $4,645 per site and operating expenses $2,611 per site. That leaves about $2,034 of NOI per site, or roughly 44 cents of every dollar. A 50-site park on those numbers nets about $100,000 a year before the mortgage. More on how much RV parks make.
Your park isn't average. A mountain park with a short season, a coastal park full of monthly guests and a highway park living on overnights all run different numbers. That's why this calculator compares each expense line instead of just the total.
NOI is the number that sets your price
Operating expenses are what it costs to run the park: payroll, utilities, repairs, insurance, property tax, office and software, marketing, professional fees. Not your mortgage. Not depreciation. Not what you pay yourself out of profit.
Then a buyer divides NOI by a cap rate to get value. At a 9% cap, every $1 of NOI is worth about $11 of price. Every $1 of expense you cut is worth the same $11.
The three things a buyer subtracts
- Your free labor. If you and your spouse mow, clean bathhouses and run the office without a paycheck, a buyer adds a manager's salary back as an expense. Put a real number on it.
- A management fee. Newmark's parks paid an average of 5.1% of revenue in management fees. If you pay nothing, expect a buyer to charge one against the park.
- Replacement reserves. Newmark's 2026 survey uses $75 per site per year for RV parks. It's small per site, but it comes off NOI before value is figured.
The gap between your NOI and the buyer's NOI, multiplied by 11 or so, is the haircut. Most owners have never seen that number. You should see it before a buyer shows it to you.
Reading the benchmark table
Each line shows your cost as a share of revenue next to Newmark's. "Above" means you're running more than 2 points over, or 50% over on a small line. Two lines matter most:
- Utilities (14.4% in the benchmark). If you're well over, look at monthly guests on included electric, leaks, and old water heaters. Run the sub-metering numbers.
- Payroll (15.5%). Low payroll usually means unpaid owner labor, which a buyer adds back. High payroll in a small park often means a staffed store or front desk that doesn't pay for itself.
A $0 line isn't a win. A buyer will plug in a number for insurance, management or marketing whether you did or not.
Where the benchmark falls short
Newmark's sample averaged about 170 sites, bigger than most family parks, and the statements run from 2015 to 2021. Insurance in particular has gone up since then, especially near the coast. Use the table to spot outliers, not to grade yourself to the decimal.
Finding $25,000 of NOI in a P&L is worth roughly $275,000 of value at a 9% cap. That's what an NOI Audit is for.
Questions owners ask
What is a normal expense ratio for an RV park?
In Newmark's RV expense summary (62 parks, statements from 2015 to 2021) operating expenses ran $2,611 per site on $4,645 of revenue per site, about 56% of revenue. Payroll (15.5%) and utilities (14.4%) were the two biggest lines. Your number will differ with size, season and who does the work, so compare line by line, not just the total.
Is NOI the same as profit?
No. NOI is revenue minus operating expenses, before your mortgage payment, depreciation and income tax. It is the number buyers and lenders use because it shows what the park earns no matter how it is financed. Your tax return profit is usually lower.
Why does the buyer NOI come out lower than mine?
Because a buyer prices the park as if someone gets paid to run it. Unpaid owner labor, no management fee and no money set aside for replacements all make your NOI look better than a buyer will accept. The calculator subtracts those three items so you see the number that gets underwritten.
Should I count my mortgage or depreciation as expenses?
No. Leave out mortgage principal and interest, depreciation, and owner draws. Put in everything it takes to operate the park: payroll, utilities, repairs, insurance, property tax, software, marketing and fees.
What are replacement reserves?
Money set aside every year for things that wear out: pedestals, roads, roofs, water heaters. Newmark's 2026 survey uses $75 per site per year for RV parks, so that is the default here. Change it if your park has older infrastructure.
How do I turn NOI into a value?
Divide NOI by a cap rate. Newmark's 2026 survey puts Class A and B RV parks around 8% and Class C around 9%. Smaller owner-run parks often trade higher. Use the RV Park Valuation Calculator for the full range.
Keep going
- RV Park Valuation Calculator: value range and value per site
- RV park cap rates in 2026
- Three levers that raise NOI
- How to value an RV park
Sources: Newmark, The 2021 RV Expense Summary (62 properties, 10,682 sites, 13 states; per-site figures used, percentages recomputed from them). Newmark Valuation & Advisory North American Market Survey, 1Q 2026 (RV park cap rates and $75 per site reserves). Estimates only, not an appraisal or tax advice.