Roommate situations tend to be associated with urban living but the search for affordable housing is pushing even LA roommates beyond city limits. Faced with rents that have climbed 20% in five years, renters are increasingly looking to Inland Empire, Santa Clarita and other commuter communities where sharing homes can stretch their budgets further.
Roommates are choosing affordability despite longer commutes, reports roommate site SpareRoom, which saw roommate searches for rentals in Jurupa Valley almost double (+94%) in the year to 2025.
Roommate searches for 'Los Angeles' (-16%),'Downtown Los Angeles' (-12%) and 'Central Los Angeles' (-31%) all fell in the same period as searches for areas located further out of the city increased.
These include areas with relatively straightforward commutes via Metrolink like Irwindale in San Gabriel Valley, around 25 miles east of Downtown LA, where roommate searches rose 61% last year, and eastern LA County suburb La Puente (+57%).
But they also include areas with longer-distance commutes, like Westlake Village on the Ventura/LA County border, where roommate searches are up 87%, and Lake Elsinore (+52%) in Riverside Valley, more than an hour away by metrolink.
In Santa Clarita Valley, searches for Valencia, a popular area with LA commuters, are up 85%, while searches for Newhall rose 55% last year.
Renting a room in a shared apartment in the LA metro area - the cheapest way to rent - costs $1,338 per month, putting LA behind New York ($1,515) and San Diego ($1,346), but still one of the three most expensive US cities in which to rent.
And zoom in on central LA and it's $1,465 per month to rent as a roommate. In Orange County the average roommate rent is $1,349 per month.
LA also has one of the biggest imbalances between the amount roommates can afford to spend on rent - $1,122 per month - and what they must actually pay ($1,338 per month), putting the annual shortfall at $2,592.
The chart below shows roommate rents in the LA metro area over the past five years:
Matt Hutchinson, director of roommate site SpareRoom, comments: “It used to be the case that sharing with roommates was a great way to live in the city affordably. But increases in the cost of living that have been tough to bear have pushed even roommates to find ways to reduce their outgoings. Search data points to well-connected areas becoming increasingly popular with roommates who are willing to move and share further out to cut their living expenses.
“But not all these areas offer easy commutes, so it might also be a lifestyle choice. We know from our data that LA roommates are getting older. As a share of the market, under 35s - the age group most associated with roommate situations - are in decline as older age groups are growing. Those who find themselves sharing later in life might be keen to explore new neighborhoods beyond the city.”