More room to spread out? Study finds that new apartment units offered significantly more square feet in 2023

Renters looking for more space are in luck: A new report says that the average size of new apartment units in 2023 increased substantially when compared to a year earlier.

According to RentCafe’s latest apartment-size report, released in early June, the average size of a new apartment in the United States stood at 916 square feet in 2023. This is largely because developers added a greater number of two- and three-bedroom apartment units last year.

That number is a big increase from 2022, when the average size of a new apartment in the United States was only 889 square feet, largely because of the higher number of studio and one-bedroom apartments that developers added to the nation’s multifamily stock.

Where renters live, though, helps determine how large their apartment unit is likely to be.

RentCafe found that the average size of new apartments stood at 1,173 square feet in Gainesville, Florida, in 2023, tops in the nation.

The first Midwest market on RentCafe’s list was Knoxville, Tennessee, which boasted an average new apartment size of 1,057 square feet. That is 18.1% bigger than in 2013. Knoxville’s average new apartment size ranked fourth in the country last year.

Coming in at 10th place on RentCafe’s list was Louisville, Kentucky, with an average new apartment size of 1,017 square feet, 15% larger than 10 years ago. Overland Park, Kansas, ranked 17th, with an average new apartment size of 985 square feet, the only other Midwest market in the top 20.

In Minneapolis, the average size of new apartments stood at 780 square feet in 2023, while the average size of all apartmnts was 713 square feet. Those numbers stood at 865 square feet and 827 square feet in Madison, Wisconsin, and 835 square feet and 788 square feet in Milwaukee.

And in Chicago? The average new apartment in 2023 boasted 801 square feet, while the average size of all apartments was a more snug 704 square feet.