RentCafe: U.S. Apartment Sizes Are Growing

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RentCafe, Santa Barbara, Calif., found that apartment sizes increased across the board in 2025, with floor plans averaging 910 square feet nationwide.

That’s up by 13 square feet. Three-bedroom units saw the largest increase year-over-year at 28 square feet. New studios are up by 6 square feet to average 460 square feet, 1-bedroom units are up by 3 square feet to average 735 square feet and 2-bedroom units are up by 4 square feet to average 1,095 square feet.

Tallahassee, Fla., has the largest new apartments, at 1,156 square feet (despite a drop of 27 square feet over the past 10 years.) Next is Gainesville, Fla., at 1,126 square feet; Baton Rouge, La., at 1,042 square feet; Knoxville, Tenn., at 1,032 square feet; and Fort Myers, Fla., also at 1,032 square feet.

The smallest new apartments are in Seattle, averaging 645 square feet, and down 47 square feet over the last decade. Portland, Ore., is No. 2, with the average size of new apartments at 665 square feet, followed by Tacoma, Wash., at 684 square feet, Brooklyn, N.Y., at 714 square feet and San Francisco at 717 square feet.  

“When we see average apartment sizes decrease in a city, it doesn’t necessarily mean renters are getting less value. In high-demand markets, developers often prioritize studios and 1-bedrooms because they can deliver more apartments per building and meet the needs of a growing number of single-person and smaller households. The trade-off is a lower average square footage, but the upside is more availability in markets where inventory has historically been tight,” stated Veronica Grecu, senior real estate writer and research analyst at RentCafe.com.

Some cities have seen larger gains in apartment sizes than others. For example, Frisco, Texas, and St. Petersburg, Fla., have seen average units gain 55 square feet in the last 10 years.