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Top 5 Cities Where Tiny Apartments Are Big — and How Much It Costs to Live There
As typical rent prices across the U.S. reach more than $2,000, many Americans struggle to find affordable rental housing, according to recent research from As new graduates seek apartments, it puts more upward pressure on rent prices.
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This spring, multifamily home rental prices have edged up by 0.7%, up to $1,849 for a typical apartment, wrote in its March Rent Report.
The solution for many renters? Tiny apartments, or micro-housing.
Developers are converting space in dying or defunct malls across the country into micro-apartments, like the ones at The Arcade, a historic mall building in Providence, Rhode Island. Similarly, the Lafayette Square Mall in Indianapolis is planning to open 1,200 apartments in a former Sears building in 2025, reported.
But the biggest demand for tiny apartments is on the West Coast, according to a new study from
San Francisco ranks the highest or available micro-units and also shows the biggest cost savings for renters who can cram themselves and their belongings in a space that maxes out at 415 feet. According to research, some tiny apartments in San Francisco measure as small as 124 square feet. If you're reading this from the comfort of a spacious, 3-bedroom suburban home, 124 square feet is just slightly larger than a 10′ x 12′ bedroom you might have in your house.
Most micro-units have a maximum size of roughly 415 to 440 feet to be considered 'micro' by zoning laws. But you'll find outliers. For instance, the smallest of the tiny apartments are in Honolulu, Hawaii, where a unit must be under 348 square feet to be considered 'micro.'
Let's take a look at 5 cities where micro-units make up more than 10% of the city's available rentals.
City
Avg. size of tiny apt.
% of micro-units
Avg. Rent for Micro-unit
Savings compared to traditional apartment
San Francisco
415
14.70%
$1,888
$1,628
Seattle
405
12%
$1,289
$1,099
Honolulu
348
11.60%
$1,700
$562
Portland (OR)
408
10.70%
$1,144
$635
Minneapolis
433
10.40%
$1,078
$661
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This article originally appeared on Top 5 Cities Where Tiny Apartments Are Big — and How Much It Costs to Live There
