Most marinas price boat slips per foot of length: a nightly per-foot rate for transient boaters and a per-foot rate per month or per season for longer stays. In the public rate pages we sampled in October 2026, base transient rates ran from $1.00 to $6.00 per foot per night, seasonal rates on the Great Lakes and Cape Cod ran from about $75 to $206 per foot for the season, and monthly rates in most year-round harbors ran from about $8 to $30 per foot.
Those ranges are wide because marina slip rates depend on location, slip size, season and what is included. This guide explains how operators structure them, shows real numbers from nine marinas in different US regions, and lays out a step-by-step way to set your own rate card.
Nearly every rate page we reviewed starts with a per-foot price. The details that sit on top of that price are where marinas differ:
Which length counts. Santa Barbara and the Chicago Park District both bill on the boat's length or the slip's length, whichever is greater. That stops a 34-foot boat paying 34-foot rates for a 40-foot slip.
Minimum lengths. Port Washington, Wisconsin charges transient boats a 30-foot minimum. Chicago applies 25- or 30-foot minimums depending on the space.
Per-foot rates that rise with size. Larger slips often cost more per foot, not just more in total. Santa Barbara's assigned berths run from $13.70 per foot per month for a 20-foot berth to $29.45 for a 100-foot berth.
Space type. Chicago prices stalls, mooring buoys, star docks and wall space differently, and allows a surcharge of up to 15% on T-head and side-tie stalls.
Beam. Key West's City Marina adds a charge for boats with a beam over 15 feet.
Residency. Public marinas often charge non-residents more. Falmouth, Massachusetts lists seasonal slips at $170 per foot for residents and $193 for non-residents, and Chicago applies a non-resident surcharge of up to 25%.
The table below comes from public rate pages sampled in October 2026. Taxes, what is included and how each marina defines its seasons vary, so treat these as reference points, not a market survey.
Transient (per foot per night)
Falmouth Marina, Falmouth, MA
$1.00 to $5.00, by date band
Seasonal (Apr 15 to Nov 15): $156 to $193 per foot
Annapolis City Dock, MD
$3.00; $4.00 Fri, Sat and holidays
Not listed on the reservation page
HarborWalk Marina, Georgetown, SC
$3.00 plus power
Monthly (Jan to Mar only) $18.00/ft; annual lease $16.00/ft, plus electricity
City Marina at Garrison Bight, Key West, FL
$4.58 plus tax, utilities listed with dockage
Transient monthly $58.18/ft plus tax; recreational lease $42.33/ft
Corpus Christi Municipal Marina, TX
$36 up to 30 ft, plus $1.20 per extra foot
Monthly on a 6-month lease: $8.25 to $11.25/ft; catamarans $20/ft
Chicago Park District harbors, IL
$1.50 to $6.00, by space type and size
Season (May 1 to Oct 31): stalls $75 to $206/ft; moorings $39.25 to $61.75/ft
Port Washington Marina, WI
$1.96, 30 ft minimum
2026 season: $2,248 (30 ft) to $5,538 (50 ft), tax included, about $75 to $111/ft
Santa Barbara Harbor, CA
$2.00 under 65 ft for nights 1 to 14, then $4.00
Monthly: $13.70 to $29.45/ft by berth length
Bell Harbor Marina, Seattle, WA
$2.15 to $3.58, by season, day and size
Monthly (Sep to May): $597.83 (30 ft) to $1,811.08 (60 ft) including tax, about $20 to $30/ft
Per-foot figures marked "about" are our division of the listed slip price by slip length. Sources include the Chicago Park District 2026 harbor fees, the Santa Barbara Waterfront rate and fee schedule and Falmouth's 2026 slip and dockage fees.
Transient slips cost more per night because they carry more work and more risk: check-ins, cleanup, empty nights between boats and weather cancellations. Seasonal tenants pay less per night in exchange for committing to the whole season. A useful way to see the relationship is to ask how many transient nights the season price equals.
Port Washington: a 30-foot seasonal slip is $2,248. At $1.96 per foot, a transient night for the same boat is $58.80, so the season equals about 38 transient nights.
Chicago, Belmont Harbor: a 35-foot stall is $117 per foot, or $4,095 before tax and any surcharge. A transient night at $3.50 per foot is $122.50, so the season equals about 33 nights.
Falmouth: a 35-foot non-resident seasonal slip is $193 per foot, or $6,755. At the $4.00 midsummer transient rate, a night is $140, so the season equals about 48 nights.
In these three examples, a full season costs about the same as 33 to 48 peak transient nights. Monthly transient rates sit in between. Key West's transient monthly rate of $58.18 per foot is about 13 nights at its $4.58 daily rate, and Corpus Christi's $405 monthly rate for a 30-foot boat is about 11 nights at $36. If your season price works out to far fewer nights than your neighbors', you may be underpricing seasonal slips. If it is far more, expect a shorter waitlist.
Sailboats moored in Port Vell with the Columbus Monument in Barcelona, Spain
Date-based pricing is common, and the rate pages show three patterns:
A flat surcharge. Annapolis adds $1.00 per foot on Fridays, Saturdays and named holiday periods.
Season and day tiers. Bell Harbor charges $2.15 per foot off-peak and $2.50 in peak months for boats under 50 feet, with a separate Friday and Saturday rate year-round.
Date bands. Falmouth runs eight transient date bands, from $1.00 per foot between mid-April and mid-May to $5.00 per foot over the first week of July and a mid-August weekend.
Chicago notes that a two- to three-day minimum stay may be charged for special events and holidays, which protects you from a single paid night blocking a slip for an entire holiday weekend.
Marinas use length-of-stay rules in both directions, depending on whether they want to fill slips or keep them turning:
Discounts. Chicago discounts transient fees by 25% after 30 consecutive days. Port Washington advertises two free nights for stays of five nights or more.
Escalators and caps. Santa Barbara doubles the visitor rate after 14 nights and caps stays at 28 nights. Falmouth limits total transient nights to 30, and Corpus Christi caps transient stays at 90 days a year.
If seasonal slips have a waitlist, caps and escalators keep transient space from turning into cheap long-term storage. If you have empty slips midweek, a multi-night discount is easier to sell than a lower nightly rate.
Both approaches show up. Key West lists utilities with its transient dockage rate. Most others charge power separately, usually by amperage per day for transients and by meter or a flat seasonal charge for longer stays:
Chicago: $10 to $30 per day by service, with metered electric on stalls invoiced at the end of the season
Bell Harbor: $7.14 (30 amp) to $28.56 (100 amp) per day
HarborWalk: $5, $10 or $25 per day for 30, 50 or 100 amp
Falmouth: $30 to $95 per day for transients, and $550 to $1,250 per season for seasonal slips
Corpus Christi: $0.15 per kilowatt hour
Including power keeps the rate simple for short stays. Metering is fairer for seasonal and liveaboard boats, but only if meter readings reliably reach the invoice.
Liveaboards add wear, water use and parking demand, and many marinas charge for it. Santa Barbara lists a liveaboard permit at $143 per month. Corpus Christi charges $100 per month for up to two occupants on vessels of 35 feet or more, plus $35 per additional occupant. Other add-ons on the pages we reviewed include waitlist fees, late fees, parking cards and dock boxes. Spell each one out on the rate page so boaters are not surprised at checkout.
Group your slips. Sort by length, type (floating, fixed, T-head, mooring) and amenities. Price each group per foot.
Collect local reference rates. Pull the published rate pages of marinas within a day's run. Public and municipal marinas often post full schedules.
Set the seasonal base. Decide your per-foot seasonal or monthly rate by slip group, and whether larger slips carry a higher per-foot rate.
Set transient against the season. Check how many transient nights your season price equals and compare it with the examples above.
Add date rules. Weekend or holiday surcharges, peak and off-peak rates, and event minimum stays.
Decide on utilities. Included, per-day by amperage, or metered.
Write the rules down. Minimum length, which length counts, cancellation policy, stay limits and surcharges, all on one public page.
Review every season. Public marinas typically adopt new schedules annually. Santa Barbara's took effect July 1, 2026 and Key West's on October 1, 2026.
aerial photography yacht lot on body of water
A rate card is only as good as the system that applies it. Ribbe's marina software manages seasonal, monthly and transient contracts from the same slip inventory, with seasonal pricing, recurring billing, deposits through integrated payments, and electric and water metering, so meter readings and slip charges land on the same boater record. Boaters can reserve slips online with live availability through a booking widget or branded booking site, and real-time reports show occupancy and revenue so you can see whether your rates are filling slips. For the booking side, see our guide to marina reservation software for transient and seasonal slips.
In public rate pages sampled in October 2026, base transient rates ran from $1.00 to $6.00 per foot per night, seasonal slips on the Great Lakes and Cape Cod from about $75 to $206 per foot per season, and monthly slips in most year-round harbors from about $8 to $30 per foot, with Key West's transient monthly rate higher at $58.18 per foot.
A transient slip rate is the price for a short stay, usually charged per foot of boat length per night. Many marinas add weekend, holiday or peak-season rates, a minimum length and separate power charges.
Per night, yes, by a wide margin. In three examples we checked, a full season cost about the same as 33 to 48 transient nights. The trade-off is that seasonal tenants pay for the whole season whether or not they use it.
Many charge by whichever is greater. Santa Barbara and the Chicago Park District both state this on their rate schedules. Others charge by boat length with a minimum, such as Port Washington's 30-foot transient minimum.
Several public marinas we reviewed, including Chicago, Santa Barbara, Falmouth and Port Washington, publish a new schedule each year, tied to the fiscal year or the start of the season. Review occupancy, waitlist length and nearby rates once a season, and publish changes well before renewals go out.
Run your rate card and your slips in one place Ribbe handles transient, monthly and seasonal contracts, seasonal pricing, recurring billing, utility metering and online slip reservations. Start a free trial