1-Dec-18 – Already among the smallest in the nation, apartments in Chicago are getting smaller, according to a nationwide apartment search website.

RENTCafé says that in Chicago, the average size of an apartment completed in 2018 is 791 square feet – 62 square feet smaller than the average Chicago apartment built in 2008. That is a bigger ten-year drop in size than the national average, making newer Chicago apartments about 16 percent smaller than the national average.

Regardless of the year in which they were built, apartments in Chicago, on average, are the second-smallest in the nation – tied with Manhattan and surpassed only by Seattle, where the average apartment is 711 square feet in size.

The largest apartments, on average, are in Tallahassee, Florida, where they measure 1,038 square feet.

Broken down by type of unit, the average studio in Chicago is 468 square feet, the average one-bedroom is 719 square feet, and the average two-bedroom is 1,055 square feet.

(Above) Average size of apartments in United States by region. Source: RENTCafé/Yardi Matrix. (Click on image to view larger version.)

Nationwide, the average size of new apartments has shrunk five percent since 2008, while the average rent has increased 28 percent. The average size of new apartments in the U.S. in 2018 is 941 square feet, five percent smaller than ten years ago.

“Changes in renters’ living habits are literally redrawing floor plans,” reports RENTCafé. “Unfortunately, renters are paying much more for less.”

Most apartment dwellers are Millennials, who prefer living close to restaurants and entertainment rather than having a large kitchen or living room, according to the website. The need to save money on rent is also a factor.

Studio apartments are shrinking the most. Nationwide, they are ten percent smaller than they were ten years ago, with the average unit 514 square feet in size. The tiniest studio apartments are in Reno, Nevada, where the average size is 349 square feet.