Fremont ranked at the bottom for apartment space among the 100 largest U.S. cities by population, with just 320 square feet per person. San Jose was also near the bottom of the list, No. 89, at 407 square feet per person, and San Francisco was just five spots higher at 433 square feet per person.
The analysis, using data from RentCafe’s sister company Yardi Matrix, uses the average apartment size across 254 U.S. cities and renter household size from the 2020 U.S. Census. The average number of rooms per renter was calculated by the total number of bedrooms plus the living room, divided by the average number of people living in the household.
The Yardi Matrix data covers more than 20 million units across 169 markets, completed through January 2022. Only multi-family buildings with 50 units or more were included in the analysis.
They’re living a lot larger in Louisville, it seems – residents of that Kentucky city had the most private space per renter in the U.S., with a roomy 706 square feet, followed by Winston-Salem, N.C., at 692 square feet and Omaha, Neb., with 679.
The report notes that the Bay Area has a lot of company statewide in offering little space for renters in big buildinigs. Among all 254 cities in the report, the 10 with the least amount of space per renter were all in California: Fontana had the tightest squeeze, with an average of 295 square feet. Salinas was No. 2 at 299 square feet and Fremont came in third. The Bay Area city of Hayward ranked No. 8 for the least square footage, with 340 per person.
“The notoriously high cost of living in California — combined with crowded cities and a lack of available apartments — is pushing more people to live under the same roof,” the report said. “As a result, a renter’s private space decreases dramatically throughout the Golden State.”
Article source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/realestate/article/bay-area-rent-apartment-17170448.php