February 2024 - New York is the busiest city in the US for roommates. No big surprise there - it’s why the New York metro area remains the most expensive in the country, with average monthly roommate rents of $1,571*.
With rents hitting record highs in 62% of major metro areas in 2023, finding the best neighborhoods is becoming more important than ever. One option is to look at neighborhoods with the most rentals available, but they’re generally the most expensive. Conversely, the cheaper areas often don’t have much supply, or are the furthest away from desirable amenities, such as transport hubs, shops and offices.
But there’s a sweet spot - or seven, to be precise.
SpareRoom, the number 1 roommate site, analyzed over 10,000 roommate ads to find the perfect balance between availability and affordability. We ranked every NYC neighborhood by the amount of rooms available from 1 to 50 - 1 being neighborhoods with the highest supply, and 50 the lowest. We then did the same for affordability to determine the cheapest neighborhood**.
These seven neighborhoods all ranked in the top 50 for affordability and supply of rentals.
- Neighborhood
- Woodside, Queens
- Average roommate rent
- $1,045
- Supply ranking
- 23
- Affordability ranking
- 26
- Neighborhood
- East Flatbush, Brooklyn
- Average roommate rent
- $1,086
- Supply ranking
- 32
- Affordability ranking
- 32
- Neighborhood
- Jamaica, Queens
- Average roommate rent
- $1,115
- Supply ranking
- 33
- Affordability ranking
- 42
- Neighborhood
- Elmhurst, Queens
- Average roommate rent
- $1,018
- Supply ranking
- 37
- Affordability ranking
- 20
- Neighborhood
- Flushing, Queens
- Average roommate rent
- $1,127
- Supply ranking
- 41
- Affordability ranking
- 46
- Neighborhood
- East Bronx, The Bronx
- Average roommate rent
- $1,092
- Supply ranking
- 44
- Affordability ranking
- 34
- Neighborhood
- Inwood, Manhattan
- Average roommate rent
- $1,054
- Supply ranking
- 48
- Affordability ranking
- 27
Queens boasts four out of seven of the top spots, and Brooklyn, The Bronx and Manhattan secured one each.
The top 5 neighborhoods with the most listings were:
- Bushwick, Brooklyn
- Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
- Hamilton Heights, Manhattan
- Astoria, Queens
- Washington Heights, Manhattan
The top 5 most expensive neighborhoods were:
- TriBeCa, Manhattan
- Battery Park City, Manhattan
- West Village, Manhattan
- Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn
- SoHo, Manhattan
The top 5 cheapest neighborhoods were:
- Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
- Morris Park, The Bronx
- South Richmond Hill, Queens
- West Bronx, The Bronx
- Richmond Hill, Queens
Matt Hutchinson, SpareRoom spokesperson comments:“Finding somewhere to live in a busy and expensive city like New York can be a daunting task, especially with New York rents hitting record highs in 2023. Most renters have a fixed budget they can’t go over, but they also want to live close enough to really get the benefits of city life.
By looking at average rents, as well as how many rooms are on offer, we’ve hopefully managed to highlight the neighborhoods that tick both budget and location boxes.”
***
*Average roommate rents, Q4 2023
**Roommate rental data from 2023