6 US Cities Where New Apartment Sizes Are Tiny — But Rent Is Rising

Rents continue to rise moderately across the U.S., with demand for apartments rising as people continue to struggle to buy a home amid high sale prices and high interest rates. But, on the bright side, the average size of newly built apartments in some cities has increased in the past year.

A study from RentCafe, based on data from RentCafe’s sister company Yardi Matrix, discovered that the average size of new rentals grew by 27 square feet between 2023 and 2024. However, that’s not the case in every U.S. city.

If you’re looking to get more bang for your rental bucks, consider avoiding these seven metro areas. Yardi Matrix data shows that apartment prices have risen year over year in these cities. But apartments have either gotten smaller in the past decade or have remained small, with the average new rental measuring less than 800 square feet.

Rents in Seattle, Washington, are up roughly 1% year-over-year. After supply growing by 5% between 2012 to 2022, renters and investors now face tight inventory for new construction, driving prices up, according to Kidder.com.

Not only are fewer apartments being built in this Pacific Northwest city, but they are also smaller. The average size of a new rental in Seattle is just 661 square feet, according to RentCafe’s report.

Rent prices in Detroit are also on the rise. Compared to last year, rents in the Michigan city are up 0.3%, with the average rent at $1,212 in March 2024, according to Point2Homes.com. Most apartments fall into the $700 to $1,000 price range, with less than 6.45% priced between $500 and $700 and just 6.33% under $2,000. The average size of a new Detroit apartment is just 726 square feet.

Rents across New York City’s five boroughs rose by 4.8% year-over-year, the largest increase of any metro area, according to Yardi Matrix data. However, there’s a silver lining for Manhattanites. New apartments in the city have grown by 16 square feet in the past decade. Meanwhile, apartments in Brooklyn and Queens have gotten smaller in the past 10 years.

New Yorkers used to flock to the outer boroughs for lower rent prices and more spacious apartments, but that’s no longer the case. An average new build in Queens measures 692 square feet, while a Brooklyn apartment measures an average of 712 square feet. The average new apartment in Manhattan, at 737 square feet, feels downright roomy by comparison.

Washington D.C. rentals have grown over the past 10 years, but still measure just 744 square feet. Rent prices in D.C. have gone up 3% in the past year, showing the fifth-largest increase of all major metro areas.

Already-high rent prices increased further in the California Bay Area city of San Francisco. Between the first quarters of 2023 and 2024, rents rose 1.3% to an average price of $3,060, according to a report from SiliconValley.com based on data from CoStar. What will more than $3,000 get you in San Francisco? New rentals offer a mere 756 square feet of living space, on average, which is actually a slight size increase over the past decade.

Showing moderate rent growth year-over-year, apartments in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, remain small, at just 764 square feet, on average.