Cities with the highest single-room housing % in 2022

[mhays]

The Census Bureau reports that the cities with the highest percentage of single-unit housing (studios) in 2022 were:
--Seattle at 13.2%
--Honolulu at 12.5%
--San Francisco at 12.4%
--Paradise NV at 10.1%
--Los Angeles at 9.9%
--Miami at 9.6%
--New York at 9%
--DC at 8.4%
--Portland at 8%
--Minneapolis at 8%

Seattle Times.

Seattle grew from 21,000 to 53,000 studios from 2010 to 2022. This isn't surprising. We're a city of young adults (often students or tech workers) who are often single or couples. These units are typically in transit-rich districts and typically don't have parking, a key to the economics of small units. We're also a city with a lot of new construction, meaning the market had room to shift. And we're expensive so people gravitate toward smaller units.

For all of these cities, it's probably a good sign for the public realm. Paris' cafe culture is often attributed to its tiny housing units (not that we're Paris!).

I lived in a hotel room for four months once. It wasn't bad!

Good, bad, indifferent, rocketing up the list since 2022...?

[iheartthed]

Paradise, NV seems like a surprise. Is there a lot of high-rise housing in the Vegas area? I always thought the housing in Vegas was dominated by single-family housing or two story apartment complexes.

[wwmiv]

I bet most people in them don’t actually like them and are making do with what they have and what they can afford.

[veep]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

I bet most people in them don’t actually like them and are making do with what they have and what they can afford.

I like mine.

[BnaBreaker]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

I bet most people in them don’t actually like them and are making do with what they have and what they can afford.

I mean... people regardless of income bracket 'make do with what they can afford.' Doesn't mean they're miserable about it.

[UrbanImpact]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Paradise, NV seems like a surprise. Is there a lot of high-rise housing in the Vegas area? I always thought the housing in Vegas was dominated by single-family housing or two story apartment complexes.

Studios don't have to be in highrises. If you google map around the peripheral of the Vegas Strip you can see where the Vegas' dense studio/small apartment housing is.

Here is South Florida, there's also tons of studios in low-rise or even 1 floor buildings.

[mhays]

I don't know the percentage who like living in small units or just do it for need/convenience.

Either way, we need cheaper housing options, particularly in expensive cities. Studios -- and outright micros -- are important.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by UrbanImpact

Studios don't have to be in highrises. If you google map around the peripheral of the Vegas Strip you can see where the Vegas' dense studio/small apartment housing is.

Here is South Florida, there's also tons of studios in low-rise or even 1 floor buildings.

It's probably all the timeshares and hotel/condo buildings on the strip. Trump Tower, Aria, Vdara, MGM Signature etc. There are quite a few normal condo buildings on the strip as well, but of course those have a standard mix of studios and 1,2,3 bedroom units. And a lot of UNLV student housing in that area. Maybe they're also counting all those extended stay budget motels with weekly and monthly rates. They're basically like studio apartments.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by UrbanImpact

Studios don't have to be in highrises. If you google map around the peripheral of the Vegas Strip you can see where the Vegas' dense studio/small apartment housing is.

Here is South Florida, there's also tons of studios in low-rise or even 1 floor buildings.

Low-rise, yes... but honestly, I can't recall ever seeing a studio in a 1-story building. It doesn't really make sense to me because the point of studios are to supply housing in densely built areas. Studios don't make sense if space and cost aren't issues, which would be the conditions where 1-floor apartment buildings exist.

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Low-rise, yes... but honestly, I can't recall ever seeing a studio in a 1-bedroom building. It doesn't really make sense to me because the point of studios are to supply housing in densely built areas. Studios don't make sense if space and cost aren't issues, which would be the conditions where 1-floor apartment buildings exist.

Do carved out 1 room residences from homes count? Especially behind homes. You see a lot of those. A lot of secondary units built behind homes like these are often single room studios. They are either rented out as air-bnb's or rented out as normal residences. You see a ton of these in LA. I had a friend who lived in one behind his parents house.
Kind of like the basement apartments that you see in NY.
https://www.google.com/maps/@25.7709...!1e3?entry=ttu

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by dave8721

Do carved out 1 room residences from homes count? Especially behind homes. You see a lot of those. A lot of secondary units built behind homes like these are often single room studios. They are either rented out as air-bnb's or rented out as normal residences. You see a ton of these in LA. I had a friend who lived in one behind his parents house.
Kind of like the basement apartments that you see in NY.
https://www.google.com/maps/@25.7709...!1e3?entry=ttu

I wasn't including mother-in-law suites, but good point. Yes, those are often 1-story.

[UrbanImpact]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Low-rise, yes... but honestly, I can't recall ever seeing a studio in a 1-bedroom building. It doesn't really make sense to me because the point of studios are to supply housing in densely built areas. Studios don't make sense if space and cost aren't issues, which would be the conditions where 1-floor apartment buildings exist.

Here’s a whole community near my work…. https://maps.app.goo.gl/ThTpbuaY3TEu...s.preview.copy. And yes , even they can be an abomination to good urban planning.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

I mean... people regardless of income bracket 'make do with what they can afford.' Doesn't mean they're miserable about it.

Touchdown!!

I lived in a studio condo for 5 years back in my bachelor days. I loved it! I was on the 33rd floor of marina city west tower with a giant balcony overlooking the Chicago river skyscraper canyon.

Sure, for what I paid for that small downtown studio condo back then I could've bought an entire bungalow out in some less desirable far-flung corner of the city, but I wasn't looking for that at the time, I only cared about location, location, location.

Now, would I still wanna be living in that studio now as a married man with 2 kids?

Fuck no!

But I was far from miserable there when i was in a different stage of my life.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by UrbanImpact

Studios don't have to be in highrises. If you google map around the peripheral of the Vegas Strip you can see where the Vegas' dense studio/small apartment housing is.

Here is South Florida, there's also tons of studios in low-rise or even 1 floor buildings.

they are making a comeback from the old days around nys.

adu's aka accessory dwelling units have been allowed in nys residential code (appendix Q) since 2020 --

and they are now allowed in nyc as of last fall (not everywhere, in certain areas) --


https://www.nyc.gov/site/hpd/service...s-one-adu.page

[JManc]

I lived in an ADU out in the Bay Area. Much better bang for the buck than some dated apartment complex with zero amenities.

[AviationGuy]

I lived in two different studio apartments during my college days at UT. They were nice, and had plenty of room for a college student. One of them had a partition you could pull across to sort of make a bedroom, but I never did. They probably had somewhere between 300-400 square feet, but I never felt cramped at all.

I wouldn't want one now, but later in life it may be the only option. A lot of people in senior living complexes, especially assisted living, living in studios.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by mhays

The Census Bureau reports that the cities with the highest percentage of single-unit housing (studios) in 2022 were:
--Seattle at 13.2%
--Honolulu at 12.5%
--San Francisco at 12.4%
--Paradise NV at 10.1%
--Los Angeles at 9.9%
--Miami at 9.6%
--New York at 9%
--DC at 8.4%
--Portland at 8%
--Minneapolis at 8%

Seattle Times.

Seattle grew from 21,000 to 53,000 studios from 2010 to 2022. This isn't surprising. We're a city of young adults (often students or tech workers) who are often single or couples. These units are typically in transit-rich districts and typically don't have parking, a key to the economics of small units. We're also a city with a lot of new construction, meaning the market had room to shift. And we're expensive so people gravitate toward smaller units.

For all of these cities, it's probably a good sign for the public realm. Paris' cafe culture is often attributed to its tiny housing units (not that we're Paris!).

I lived in a hotel room for four months once. It wasn't bad!

Good, bad, indifferent, rocketing up the list since 2022...?

That's a crazy number of new studios in only a little over a decade. Impressive. Population density is so important for city vibrancy so I can only imagine that Seattle has great street energy.

[mhays]

To a point, in limited areas...but not broadly or as intensively as the top cities.

Over the years it's become clear that adding hundreds or even thousands of households to a neighborhood, even in car-lite format, will only take vibrancy so far. Apparently my comfort zone is wide areas of six-figure residential density mixed with a lot of daytime folks, a level we're only starting to get in small areas.

[jd3189]

I feel like studios should continue to make a big percentage of the housing growth in our metros. More Millennials and Gen Z are going to be single and/or childless, so there's less incentive to buy a house unless you have the money to make money from renting out real estate.

These developments should ideally be concentrated in TODs that are relatively walkable and bike friendly.

I will live in one of these studios in the future. I don't own much and don't need a ton of space. I'm also single so I don't have to worry about a girlfriend needing her own space as well. A studio in a big city is the perfect way for a bachelor to live.

[Gordo]

Studios are a much better option than dealing with rando roommates. Right out of college in SF nice (and especially new) studios were relatively rare and very expensive compared to splitting a two or three bed place with others.