The roommate boom is happening in the suburbs — not in cities

Who says suburban sprawl is just for families and lawn mowers?

Nearly 5.6 million, or 12%, of US renter households now include roommates — a 21% increase over the past decade, according to a new survey from StorageCafe, a nationwide storage marketplace.

But rather than crowding into cities, renters are moving to suburban and secondary hubs like Jersey City, New Jersey, where renters with roommates save a whopping $13,000 per year — more than roomies in any other city.

In Irvine, California; Atlanta; and Raleigh, North Carolina, “living with roommates delivers the greatest financial and lifestyle advantages,” StorageCafe found.  

One in four people living in Irvine shares their home, roomies 510 square feet per person and a savings of $12,800 a year.

Next up is Atlanta, where 17% of renter households have roomies. Residents get 535 square feet per person and save $8,900 by sharing a two-bedroom.

In third place is Raleigh, North Carolina’s state capital. There, 17% of renter households have roommates with each person averaging living space of 515 square feet. The rent savings is $8,100.

Nationwide, splitting rent in a two-bedroom apartment rather than living alone in a one-bedroom saves people about $6,700 per year — enough to pay down high-interest debt. That can make a real difference when 43.5 million households spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

“What’s changed is geography,” Victor Maghear, research analyst at StorageCafe, said in prepared remarks. “Shared living used to be concentrated in dense urban cores. Now we’re seeing the fastest growth in suburbs with newer apartment stock, stronger amenities and easier access to regional job centers.”

Shared living isn’t just for twenty-somethings anymore. Millennials now account for over a third, or 1.9 million, of all roommate households, according to the survey, which analyzed the country’s 100 largest cities.

“Roommate living is no longer just about youth culture,” the survey indicates. “It increasingly responds to structural affordability pressures that cut across age groups.”