Studio And One Bedroom Apartment Sizes Are Shrinking Across The U.S.

While it may not always be obvious that quality of life is plunging in the U.S., as inflation eats away at our savings and shrinkflation makes its way through all consumer products, one new report shows exactly how it is effecting the apartment market.

A new study from RentCafe shows that the national apartment size for studios and 1 bedroom apartments is shrinking – meaning that not only are prices on the rise across the country – but your dollar is getting you less square footage than ever.

Among the findings by Adina Dragos, who penned the results of the study, were:

The average size of new apartments in 2022 was 887 square feet — a 54 square-foot drop since 10 years ago. It was also the largest year-over-year decrease, down 30 square feet. Among other factors, the drop in size can be attributed to more studios and one-bedroom apartments entering the market in 2022, reaching a historic share of 57%.Tallahassee, FL, led the nation with the largest apartments, while Seattle offered the smallest apartments.Apartments in Tucson, AZ, saw the largest increase in apartment size.Silver Spring, MD, apartments saw the largest decrease in the last 10 years.

The study pointed out the very noticeable drop in the most significant changes in apartment size in the 100 largest U.S. cities:

One can note from the chart that the decreasing trend continued once again after some slight respite during the pandemic, when apartment sizes briefly got larger in size. This data “confirmed the developers’ quick response to the need for more space during the pandemic”, according to RentCafe.

“Yet, 2022 presented a different story: With one of the highest levels of construction in half a century, the year was marked by the need for more housing all across the country. As such, more studios and one-bedroom apartments were finished in 2022 than ever before. In fact, the share of smaller units reached a historic high of 57% in 2022 — a significant change compared to 10 years ago, when they represented exactly half of apartments built,” the report says.

By region, the study noted that “renters in the South enjoyed an extra 106 square feet compared to the national average”.

The report also noted a shift in sizing trends on the West Coast, stating “The Pacific Northwest has overtaken California as the region with the least amount of apartment space”.

We’re sure this has nothing to do with the exodus in the midst of taking place from cities like San Francisco.

Coming in at the top of the list with the most space were cities like Tallahassee and Gainesville, Florida. After that came Mobile, Alabama and Knoxville, TN.

The study was undertaken using RentCafe.com, a nationwide apartment search website that enables renters to easily find apartments and houses for rent throughout the United States. Apartment size and rent data were provided by Yardi Matrix, a RentCafe sister company specializing in apartment market intelligence and providing up-to-date information on large-scale, multifamily properties of 50 units or more in more than 130 U.S. markets.

You can read the results of the full study here.