Philly apartments are shrinking
Of the country’s 100 largest cities for renters, Philadelphia ranked 88th in apartment size, according to RentCafe.
If you’re looking for a place to rent a spacious new apartment, Philly ain’t it.
Apartments across the country got slightly bigger last year, but in Philadelphia, they’re shrinking.
Apartments in Philly are already relatively small. Of the country’s top 100 cities with the largest apartment supply, Philadelphia ranked 88th in apartment size, according to an analysis by the nationwide apartment search website RentCafe. The report was based on apartments in buildings with 50 or more units.
New apartments, which RentCafe defined as those built between 2016 and 2025, span an average of 747 square feet — 163 fewer square feet than the national average.
But in Philadelphia, the average new apartment shrank by 104 square feet compared to apartments built during the previous decade — basically the loss of a home office, according to RentCafe.
Philadelphia’s position as a desirable rental market and demographic trends help explain the shrinking, according to Veronica Grecu, research analyst at RentCafe.
“In high-demand markets, developers often prioritize studios and one-bedrooms because they can deliver more apartments per building and meet the needs of a growing number of single-person and smaller households,” Grecu said in a statement. “... the upside is more availability in markets where inventory has historically been tight.”
Apartments currently under construction in Philadelphia average 627 square feet, according to RentCafe.
The platform found that Philadelphia’s new three-bedroom apartments actually grew in size — by 93 square feet — as studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments shrank. But not many developers are building three-bedroom units. They made up 3% of the city’s supply of new apartments, according to RentCafe.
» READ MORE: Why is it so hard to build family-sized apartments in Philadelphia?
How Philly compares to other cities
Cities in the Northeast and West dominate RentCafe’s list of places with the smallest new apartments.
Pittsburgh was one of the top 10 cities where new apartments shrank the most in the last decade. The average size decreased by 142 square feet. But the average new apartment was 804 square feet, still larger than the average in Philadelphia.
Seattle has the smallest new apartments. Those built in the last decade average 645 square feet, as more studios and one-bedroom apartments have been built.
» READ MORE: Philly has some of the smallest new apartments in the country (From 2024)
Portland, Ore., and Tacoma, Wash., have the second- and third-smallest new apartments, averaging 665 and 684 square feet, respectively.
Tallahassee, Fla., has the largest new apartments. They average 1,156 square feet.
Gainesville, Fla., and Baton Rouge, La., have the second- and third-largest new apartments, averaging 1,126 and 1,042 square feet, respectively.
