It's no secret that the Bay Area is expensive, but if you live alone there, it's really going to cost you.
That's the resounding message from a recent report released by fintech data company SmartAsset that analyzed the top cities across the country where renters reap the biggest savings by doubling up with a roommate. And for the fifth-straight year, San Francisco has topped the national report of U.S. cities with the highest roommate savings.
According to the data, the average one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco costs $3,361 per month compared to $4,529 for the average two-bedroom — which translates to savings of $1,096 for residents who choose to share an apartment and split rent down the middle.
In Denver, the average one-bedroom apartment costs $1,447 per month compared to $1,831 for the average two-bedroom, or savings of $531 for roommates who split rent equally. Denver ranks at No. 17 for roommate savings.
For its list criteria, SmartAsset looked at apartment data from April 2018 to April 2019 from Rent Jungle on the 50 largest U.S. cities and measured how much a person could save in each city by moving from a one-bedroom apartment to a two-bedroom. There's a wide range in savings across the report as the amount per month saved by having a roommate in San Francisco is roughly $500 more than the average saved across all cities and almost $900 more than the amount saved in the last city on the list, Detroit.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development defines those who pay more than 30 percent of their income on rent as housing cost-burdened. As rising rents continue to outpace increases in median incomes in most cities, rooming up with someone else is one of the most effective ways to decrease the amount of income spent on rent.
To read more about the benefits of having a roommate, go to The Denver Business Journal.
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