Move over tiny houses; Seattle ranks number one as the city with the tiniest apartments in the U.S. According to a new report by apartment listing service RentCafe, the Emerald City leads the trend in diminishing apartment space, with an average size of 661 square feet. Portland is close behind, with new apartments measuring 685 square feet.
The Pacific Northwest cities have more cramped apartment spaces than any New York borough, including Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, though urban lore (and movies) would have us believe that every apartment in NYC is miniscule.
Seattle apartments have shrunk 25 square feet per unit in the last decade, trailing Portland, which has seen an average 54-square-foot decrease. This downsizing comes while other major cities have seen an increase in apartment space, including Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and, yes, New York City.
It doesn’t appear Seattle apartments will be growing any time soon and may, in fact, get smaller. The average size of an apartment currently under construction in Seattle is 430 square feet, which is close to tying San Jose, California, home to the smallest apartments being built in the country. Fresh apartment stock in Los Angeles is around 553 square feet, followed by Philadelphia and Portland, at around 600 square feet.
Whether Seattle’s shrinking square footage becomes the status quo or motivates renters to give more consideration to older apartments in the city or larger apartments in nearby suburbs, only time will tell.
This post was based on information found on KOIN.
