How popular has co-working space become? A new report from CoworkingCafe says that more than 5,600 co-working spaces are spread across the United States.
According to CoworkingCafe’s March State of the Industry Report, there were 5,612 co-working spaces in the United States as of March of 2023.
Many of these spaces are in the Midwest, with several cities in the region boasting plenty of co-working options. CoworkingCafe said that the Minneapolis-St. Paul market had 74 co-working spaces totaling 1.39 million square feet.
Workers in Kansas City can choose from 52 co-working spaces totaling 1.37 million square feet, while those in Nashville can work from 68 co-working spaces totaling 1.42 million square feet.
Chicago, not surprisingly, boasts the greatest number of co-working spaces in the Midwest with 235 as of March of 2023. Chicago also had the greatest amount of square feet of co-working space with 6.24 million. Chicago is one of five markets in the United States with more than 200 co-working spaces, joining Manhattan, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Fort Worth, Texas.
The popularity of co-working spaces in Chicago isn’t a shock. CBRE reported that the office vacancy rate in the Chicago market hit a high 21.4% at the end of 2022. At the same time, those companies that are looking for new office space here are searching for higher-quality spaces with modern amenities. CoworkingCafe says that co-working spaces are well-suited to take advantage of this: Many have been built more recently, so they often feature the more modern amenities that workers and companies are seeking today.
Across the country, U.S. co-working space stock added up to more than 113.74 million square feet, according to CoworkingCafe. That accounted for 1.67% of the total office space in the nation.
This number has grown significantly since 2010, when JLL reported about 12 million square feet in flexible workspaces across the United States. As CoworkingCafe says, that increase translates to a tenfold growth of this sector in the past 12 years.
Doug Ressler, business intelligence manager at Yardi Matrix, said that the growth in co-working spaces should only continue in the coming years.
“Many companies still aren’t certain the number of employees who will be in their physical office space in the near- or long-term. That has led to firms doing smaller projects with startups, like pilot tests, instead of larger-scale purchases,” Ressler said.
How much does it cost to rent space in this sector? CoworkingCafe reported that the national median rates for open co-working were $134 a month, while dedicated desks went for $326 and virtual offices for $94.
Of course, not all markets are equally expensive. Manhattan and San Francisco boasted rates that were often twice as high as the national median.
In Manhattan, the median price for an open workspace was $300 per month in March, more than double the national rate. On the opposite coast, the median price for the same subscription type in San Francisco was $357, or more than $200 above the national median for this type of arrangement.
CoworkingCafe identified five primary providers of co-working space in the country. Regus led the way with 924 spaces, while WeWork ranked second with 240. Industrious pulled up in third place with 135 nationwide locations, while Spaces ranked fourth with 123. Premier Workspaces came in fourth place with 88 spaces.