Living with roommates can save LA dwellers over $19,000 per year

by Tom

We've released a neighborhood-by-neighborhood breakdown of annual savings for renters in Los Angeles

Here at SpareRoom, we're constantly looking at current housing and rental trends. In this post we look into how much you can save each year by living with a roommate over living in a 1-bed apartment in neighborhoods around LA.

When we compared the average cost per room rental price over the last year vs. the average cost per one bedroom, we found that if you choose to be a roommate, you can save as much as $19,812 per year compared to your neighbors that are living alone.₃

In Downtown LA, you can save just under $20,000 per year by choosing to have a roommate rather than live alone in a 1-bed apartment. In Hollywood, Santa Monica, Westwood and Redondo Beach you will save on average over $15,000.

East LA offers the lowest difference between having a roommate and choosing a 1-bed apartment, however you'd still save over $4,000 annually.

The suburbs of the San Fernando Valley and Long Beach don't buck the trend either, with annual savings both being in the $12,000 range.

We recently also conducted a survey of 6,000 people where we found that 89% of LA dwellers living with roommates shared an apartment because of the financial benefits.

Nearly half (43%) of our respondents said sharing means they can live in a better apartment and over a third (38%) said they can live in a better neighborhood if they live with roommates.₁

Over half of those asked (56%) said they rent with a roommate because they can’t afford rent on their own.₁

Over 1 in 3 (37%) said 50% or more of their salary is going on rent alone. Nearly 1 in 7 (14%) admitted they pay out a sum that amounts to two thirds of their salaries or more.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), Americans who spend more than 30% of their net income on rent are considered to be rent burdened.₂

More about SpareRoom

SpareRoom, the trusted platform helping people seamlessly find the perfect roommate, launched across the US in 2016 and has so far helped over three quarters of a million people find a room or a roommate.

Every ad is moderated and SpareRoom also runs weekly Speed Roommating events in NYC, where roommates can meet face to face in a safe environment.

SpareRoom also runs Live Rent Free - a monthly contest which offers the chance for one lucky person to win their rent free for a month. This amount is also matched and donated to leading homeless charity, Breaking Ground. To date SpareRoom has donated over $55,000.

SpareRoom is available online and also in the Apple and Android app stores.

Footnotes

₁SpareRoom’s survey of 6,000+ roommates, February 2019
₂https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/comm_planning/affordablehousing/
₃Mean cost per room on SpareRoom listings vs. median cost per 1 BR on Zumper.com (www.spareroom.link/zumper), February 2019