Quick answer: The Salvage Yard makes far more money per hour of actual play — roughly GTA$280,000–GTA$390,000 per hour, because a single weekly robbery pays GTA$240,000–GTA$410,000 for about an hour of preps and a finale. The Bunker makes more money per week of real time, because it keeps producing while you do something else: a full 100-unit stock sells for GTA$1,050,000 in Los Santos, nets GTA$675,000 after supplies, and works out to GTA$57,857 per hour of production at a 180% margin. The catch is the hard cap: the Salvage Yard gives you three cars a week and then stops, so it tops out around GTA$1,170,000 per week and a typical mixed week lands nearer GTA$900,000. The Bunker has no cap at all. Buy the Salvage Yard first if you play in short sessions. Buy the Bunker first if you play long ones — and never buy Bunker supplies before you own the GTA$1,155,000 Equipment Upgrade, because without it a full fill costs GTA$750,000 and a Blaine County sale only returns GTA$700,000 — you lose money on the cycle.
Two threads went up on r/gtaonline within hours of each other this week. One asked, plainly, whether the Bunker or the Salvage Yard is better "for pure profit." The other was a player screaming about the Gunrunning resupply missions — the exact grind that makes the Bunker's margin look good on a spreadsheet and feel terrible in a session.
Both questions have the same answer, and nobody writes it down properly: these two businesses are not competing on money. They're competing on what kind of time you have. One pays you for attention. The other pays you for patience.
Here are the real numbers, pulled from the in-game economy rather than from a YouTube thumbnail.
Which business makes more money per hour in GTA Online?
The Salvage Yard, by a factor of roughly five — but only for the three hours a week it's open for business.
A Salvage Yard robbery has three stages: an intel scope-out, a set of preps and Freemode Tasks, and a finale. Done at a normal pace, that's about 50–70 minutes end to end. The payout depends on which car is in the weekly rotation, and across the 340 target vehicles that have appeared in the rotation so far, the top sell price lands between GTA$240,000 and GTA$410,000.
Call it an hour of work for GTA$240,000 at the floor and GTA$410,000 at the ceiling. That's GTA$280,000–GTA$390,000 per hour once you subtract the GTA$20,000 claim fee — the single highest hourly rate attached to any owned property in the game, and comfortably above what the best repeatable contact work pays. (If you want that comparison in detail, we broke it down in our guide to the highest-paying missions by money per hour.)
The Bunker does not work like that. It works like a factory.
With both the Equipment and Staff upgrades installed, a Bunker produces one unit of stock every 7 minutes, and each unit is worth GTA$7,000 at sale. Filling all 100 units therefore takes 11 hours and 40 minutes of game time, and the finished stock sells for GTA$1,050,000 if you deliver it inside Los Santos city limits.
Supplies for a full cycle cost GTA$375,000 with the Equipment Upgrade. So:
- Gross sale (Los Santos): GTA$1,050,000
- Supplies: −GTA$375,000
- Net: GTA$675,000
- Net per hour of production: GTA$57,857
- Margin: 180%
GTA$57,857 per hour against GTA$280,000+ per hour isn't close. But that 11h40m isn't time you spend playing the Bunker — it's time the Bunker spends working while you run heists, race, or log off. The Salvage Yard's hour is an hour you have to actually be there for.
Is the Bunker worth it in 2026?
Yes, and it's still the best first money property in the game — but the price tag you need to budget for is not the one on the Maze Bank Foreclosures listing.
Bunkers run from GTA$1,165,000 for Paleto Forest up to GTA$4,070,000 for the premium sites, and if you ever bought the Criminal Enterprise Starter Pack, you already own one for free. That's the cheap part. The upgrades are the real investment:
- Equipment Upgrade — GTA$1,155,000. Halves your supply cost and raises production speed. Non-optional.
- Staff Upgrade — GTA$598,500. Raises production speed further.
- Security Upgrade — GTA$351,000. Cosmetic risk reduction. Skip it until you're rich.
Add Paleto Forest plus both production upgrades and you're at GTA$2,918,500 before your first sale. The in-game economy's own worked example uses the Chumash Bunker fully upgraded at GTA$3,403,500, which pays itself back in 58.83 hours of production at the GTA$57,857/hr rate — roughly five full stock cycles.
Running costs are trivial by comparison: GTA$4,500 per in-game day in utilities.
Two location rules decide whether your Bunker is good or mediocre:
Selling inside Los Santos pays 50% more. The same 100 units that fetch GTA$700,000 in Blaine County fetch GTA$1,050,000 in the city. That GTA$350,000 delta is per cycle, forever, and it is the single most valuable thing about an expensive Bunker.
Relocating is a punishment, not a move. If you buy a cheap Bunker now and upgrade it, relocating later transfers only 50% of the property price and none of your upgrades. You rebuy GTA$1,753,500 of Equipment and Staff from scratch. Pick the location you want to keep.
Why does everyone hate the Gunrunning resupply missions?
Because the alternative is a trap, and most players don't run the numbers before they fall into it.
You have two ways to feed a Bunker: steal supplies in a resupply mission, or buy them. Stealing is free and slow and repetitive — hence the rant threads. Buying is instant. So buying looks obviously correct, right up until you check what it costs.
With the GTA$1,155,000 Equipment Upgrade, a full fill of supplies costs GTA$375,000 and the resulting stock is worth GTA$1,050,000 in the city. Clean GTA$675,000 profit.
Without the Equipment Upgrade, that same full fill costs GTA$750,000 — double. And if you then sell in Blaine County instead of Los Santos, your 100 units bring in GTA$700,000. You have spent GTA$750,000 to earn GTA$700,000. You lose GTA$50,000 on the cycle — and that's before utilities, and before the hours you spent waiting for it to produce.
So the honest sequence is:
- Buy the cheapest Bunker you'll be happy keeping.
- Grind resupply missions — yes, the annoying ones — until you can afford the Equipment Upgrade.
- Buy the Equipment Upgrade.
- Never run a resupply mission again.
The resupply grind isn't content. It's a GTA$1,155,000 loan you're paying off in labour. Once the Equipment Upgrade is in, buying supplies is strictly better and the Bunker turns genuinely passive. That's the part the rant threads are missing.
There's one more reason to own a Bunker beyond its own sale: its stock feeds the Nightclub's Sporting Goods, one of the seven accrued-goods types, so a Bunker quietly raises a second business's payout. The Salvage Yard feeds nothing. If you're mapping out which properties stack, our MC businesses ranked by profit guide covers the rest of that web.
How much does the Salvage Yard actually pay?
Up to GTA$1,170,000 in a maxed-out week, around GTA$900,000 in a normal one — and then nothing until the rotation resets.
Rockstar's own description of the business is unusually blunt about the shape of it:
"Stealing this caliber of car in Los Santos will be no simple feat. Jamal's operation involves robberies and a weekly rotation of target vehicles that Yusuf is fixing his sights on for his collection. Each robbery entails scoping out some initial intel, completing Preps and new Freemode Tasks, and culminates in a high-speed Finale."
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"Weekly rotation" is the operative phrase. You get three target vehicles per week. Each one can be resolved two ways:
- Sell it for the full value — GTA$240,000–GTA$410,000 depending on the target.
- Salvage it for exactly 80% of the sell price.
Selling is always the better money. Salvaging exists for the collectors and for anyone who wants the parts. Three sells at the top of the range is GTA$1,170,000 after the three GTA$20,000 claim fees; three at the bottom is GTA$660,000. Because the rotation mixes price tiers, a realistic week sits around GTA$900,000.
Then it stops. There is no fourth car. This is the single most important fact about the Salvage Yard and the reason "it's better per hour" is a half-truth: it has the best rate in the game and the worst ceiling.
The entry cost is also real. Salvage Yards run GTA$1,620,000 for Paleto Bay up to GTA$2,690,000 for La Puerta, and the upgrades that matter are not cheap:
- Staff Upgrade — GTA$625,000. Halves tow salvage time from 96 minutes to 48, and lets you process two vehicles at once.
- Tow Truck — GTA$1,100,000 (or a GTA$650,000 beater if you only want the mechanic, not the look).
- Wall Safe — GTA$750,000. Raises passive storage capacity to GTA$250,000.
- Trade Rates — GTA$450,000. Better per-part returns on salvage.
And a cost people forget: the claim fee of GTA$20,000 per robbery, halved to GTA$10,000 if you own a Document Forgery Office.
The Tow Truck arm is a nice-to-have, not a money engine. Reputation gates how much it generates, and passive income is capped at GTA$24,000 per in-game day. Over a week that's pocket change next to a single robbery finale. Treat the tow truck as something you do while you wait, not as a reason to buy the property.
Which should you buy first?
Decide on your session length, not on the payout table.
Buy the Salvage Yard first if you play in 60–90 minute sessions. You log in, run one robbery, bank GTA$240,000–GTA$410,000, log out. No supply management, no sell-mission grief, no stock sitting in a warehouse waiting for you. Three sessions a week clears a million.
Buy the Bunker first if you play in 3+ hour sessions, or if you play most days. The Bunker rewards presence over time rather than focus in the moment. Start a fill, go do heists, come back, sell inside the city for the +50%. Across a full week of regular play the Bunker will out-earn a Salvage Yard that's already hit its three-car wall — and it keeps feeding your Nightclub while it does.
Own both if you can. They don't compete for the same hour. The Salvage Yard is a weekly burst with no upkeep; the Bunker is a background process. The right combination is one of each, which is also why bonus weeks that discount either property are worth watching — we track those in our free Bunker and Gunrunning week coverage, and the current weekly update window runs October 8–14, 2026.
What you should not do is buy a Bunker and then try to run it without the Equipment Upgrade. That's the only genuinely money-losing configuration in this entire comparison.
Short on GTA$ to buy in? Both of these businesses need seven-figure capital before they return a cent — Paleto Forest plus both production upgrades is GTA$2,918,500, and a Salvage Yard with Staff and a Tow Truck is GTA$3,345,000. Skip the grind and start from a working balance:
- GTA 5 Money — fund the Bunker, the Equipment Upgrade and the Salvage Yard in one go
- GTA 5 Account Boost — rank, RP and unlocks so the upgrades are actually available to buy
- GTA 5 Modded Cars — the garage, without waiting on the rotation
- All GTA services
FAQ
Is the Bunker or the Salvage Yard better for pure profit? Per hour of active play, the Salvage Yard, at roughly GTA$280,000–GTA$390,000 per hour against the Bunker's GTA$57,857. Per week of real time, the Bunker, because the Salvage Yard is hard-capped at three target vehicles per week while the Bunker's production is uncapped.
How much does a full Bunker sale pay in GTA Online? A full 100-unit stock sells for GTA$1,050,000 inside Los Santos or GTA$700,000 in Blaine County — the city delivery is worth 50% more. After GTA$375,000 of supplies, a Los Santos sale nets GTA$675,000 at a 180% margin.
Should I buy Bunker supplies or steal them? Buy them, but only after you own the GTA$1,155,000 Equipment Upgrade, which halves the cost of a full fill from GTA$750,000 to GTA$375,000. Without that upgrade, buying supplies and selling in Blaine County loses money outright.
How much does a Salvage Yard robbery pay? Between GTA$240,000 and GTA$410,000 depending on which vehicle is in the weekly rotation, minus a GTA$20,000 claim fee (GTA$10,000 if you own a Document Forgery Office). Salvaging a vehicle instead of selling it returns exactly 80% of the sell price.
Is the Salvage Yard Staff Upgrade worth GTA$625,000? Yes, if you use the tow truck at all. It cuts tow salvage time from 96 minutes to 48 and lets you process two vehicles simultaneously. If you only run the weekly robberies and ignore the tow truck, it's skippable.
Can I relocate my Bunker later? You can, but you shouldn't. Relocation refunds only 50% of the original property price and carries none of your upgrades, so you rebuy GTA$1,753,500 of Equipment and Staff from scratch. Choose the location you intend to keep, and favour one with a fast route into Los Santos.
Does the Bunker feed other businesses? Yes. Bunker stock supplies the Nightclub's Sporting Goods, one of seven accrued-goods types, so a running Bunker raises your Nightclub payout as a side effect. The Salvage Yard feeds nothing else.
