- The average roommate rent in the Los Angeles metro area hit a record high at the end of last year, and is now outpacing roommate budgets by $2,664/year.
- As affordability bites, roommates are getting older: the proportion of 55-64 year olds looking for roommates and rooms in shared rentals in LA has risen 61% in five years - the biggest increase of any age group.
The average roommate rent in the LA metro area - now $1,339/month, up 1.4% on the previous year - exceeds the average roommate's budget for housing by $222/month. That's according to roommate site SpareRoom's quarterly rental index for Q1 2026, which uniquely tracks roommate rents in shared households at the sharp end of America's housing affordability crisis.
Sharing as a roommate is the cheapest way to rent, which is putting already-limited supply under huge pressure. In Q4 2025 the average roommate rent in LA hit a record high of $1,354/month. Although rents have decreased marginally in Q1 2026 on the previous quarter, there is still a sizable affordability gap between what the roommates can afford to pay in rent - $1,117/month on average - and the current average rent, which leaves an annual shortfall of more than $2.6K.
As the chart below shows, intense demand in the market from mid 2021, after the Covid pandemic, forced rents up sharply. Although demand has now since dropped back to normal levels, there have been no significant or sustained rent decreases taking rents back down to levels seen before the pandemic.
Roommates in LA are getting older
Unaffordable rents are changing household dynamics in LA, with more young people excluded from the rental market altogether and older renters are priced out of living solo.
A breakdown of SpareRoom user data by age in the LA metro area shows the proportion of 55-64 year olds looking for roommates and rooms in shared rentals has risen 61% in five years - the biggest increase of any age group. The share of senior roommates aged 65+ rose 43% in the same period.
Meanwhile, the share of younger roommates under 35 - who are most typically associated with living in shared apartments - has declined:
| Age group | Share of users in 2025 | Share of users in 2020 | 5-year change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18-24 | 26.6% | 31.8% | -16% |
| 25-34 | 31.8% | 37.8% | -16% |
| 35-44 | 17.8% | 13.6% | 31% |
| 45-54 | 10.7% | 8.4% | 27% |
| 55-64 | 8.3% | 5.1% | 61% |
| 65+ | 4.8% | 3.3% | 43% |
Matt Hutchinson, director of roommate site SpareRoom, comments: “Talk of falling rents in LA is clouding the reality for roommates at the sharp end of the rental market, who are struggling day to day and who need to 'find' thousands of dollars more every year to make rent.
“Broadly, this has been the picture in most major US metros. The supply-demand imbalance has put intense upward pressure on rents and kept them high. Unlike gas prices, which rise as oil goes up and falls when it comes down, rents tend to go up and stay there. It's also why we're seeing a reduction in the proportion of younger renters who simply can't afford to fly the nest and a rise in the share of older renters who are sharing for longer because they're priced out of renting solo.”