Share An Apartment With A Roommate And Pocket $7k Yearly In Rent Savings

Looking downtown India St in Lilltle Italy.
Patricia Kirk/Bisnow

For Millennials who want to live in pricey Little Italy (pictured), sharing an apartment with a roommate could make it easier.

San Diego renters could save $6,768 in rent annually, or $564/month, by sharing an apartment with a roommate, according to a new study by SmartAsset, a personal finance website. The study ranked 50 of the largest US cities by how much a tenant could save with a roommate. San Diego ranked seventh nationally, ahead of Los Angeles ($558/month), Long Beach ($554/month) and Portland ($546/month). San Francisco and New York City represented the greatest savings for sharing with a roommate, $1,106 and $1,030/month, respectively, while sharing in Tucson saves the least, just $187/month.

SmartAsset calculated SD’s savings with a roommate on an average rent of $1,696 for a one-bedroom and $2,264 for two bedrooms. The study used September 2016 rental data on myapartmentmap.com for each market, comparing rents for one- and two-bedroom apartments. It assumed roommates would split rent 50-50 on a two-bedroom unit. Studio apartments were not included in the study.

The study’s rent figures may be a little high, according to a San Diego Union-Tribune report, as a survey of 131,287 apartments by MarketPointe Realty Advisors in September calculated average for a one-bedroom at $1,533 and $1,821 for two bedrooms.

The study’s key advice for renters:

— Don’t live alone on the West Coast, as renters stand to save thousands of dollars yearly by splitting a two-bedroom apartment, particularly in California.

— Singles who don’t want to deal with a roommate could better live alone in the Southwest, as sharing an apartment won’t save much in less expensive markets like Tucson and El Paso.

Continue reading this story with a free account

Log in or register
Sign up for more articles like this
Subscribe to Bisnow's San Diego Newsletters
Related Stories

REPORT: Amazon Eyes Next Industrial Push With Plans To Expand Same-Day Deliveries

Bugatti Lends Brand To 60-Story Miami Condo Tower

Fed Raises Benchmark Rate, Intensifying Borrowing Cost Blues

Stockdale Hires Fortress Exec To Launch Debt Business

With Occupancy Brimming, Investors Pile Into Bay Area Apartments

DivcoWest Sells Glendale Office Building For $70M

Inside The Nationwide Jockeying For Opportunity Zones 2.0

FBI Drops Investigation Into Financially Troubled StoryBuilt

GTIS Partners Rebrands As Brightshore Capital, Launches $250M Debt Platform

Data Center Spills 5,000 Gallons Of Fuel Into New Jersey River

Hines And Rialto Close Office Credit Fund At $1.1B

Chipotle Adding Hundreds Of New Locations Worldwide