Roommate situations are typically associated with urban living but, with huge demand in NYC boroughs, rents rising and renter affordability low, several areas within commuting distance of New York City, including the suburbs, have seen roommate interest grow significantly.
At $1,847/month to rent as a roommate in Manhattan, or $1,448/month in Brooklyn, shared living in New York City might be the cheapest way to rent but it isn't necessarily affordable, according to Q2 2026 data released by roommate site SpareRoom.
Across the NY metro area, the average rent ($1,515/month) is rising 2.6% year on year, but rent has also increased by 33% over the past five years.
It is now outstripping the average roommate's budget - $1,275 per month - by $2,880 a year.
The biggest issue? The supply-demand imbalance. Roommate rental supply fell by 9% in the year to Q2 2026 and there are now as many as 6.5 people competing per room available to rent in the Bronx and 5.6 in Queens.
In search of affordability and supply, SpareRoom data suggests roommates are looking beyond NYC.
Long Island suburb Ronkonkoma has seen roommate interest more than double (+128%) despite the relatively long commute (minimum 1.25 hours) by express train to Penn Station.
Interest in Tarrytown, a village in Greenburgh, Westchester County, and just 40 minutes by train to Grand Central, has almost doubled (+90%). And roommate searches for Union in New Jersey are also up 90%. Union connects to Penn Station in as little as 30-40 minutes.
Roommate searches for Manhattan (-5%), the Bronx (-20%), Queens (-24%), Staten Island (-5%), and Brooklyn (-14%) all decreased in the same period.
The table below shows areas located outside of NYC, but within a 90-minute commute, which have seen a 50%+ increase in roommate searches. It's based on an analysis of more than 16 million area searches on SpareRoom in 2025 compared to the previous year.
| Area search term | Increase in searches 2025 vs 2024 |
|---|---|
| Ronkonkoma, NY | 128% |
| Tarrytown, NY | 90% |
| Union, NJ | 90% |
| New Brunswick, NJ | 89% |
| Parsippany, NJ | 82% |
| Patchogue, NY | 66% |
| North Bergen, NJ | 57% |
The Bronx, still the most affordable New York City borough for roommates ($1,169/month), saw the highest level of demand in Q2, but it's Manhattan that has seen both the highest increase in demand (+28%) and the highest year-over-year rent change (+4.7%), as shown in the table below:
| Borough | Ave monthly roommate rent Q2 2026 | Demand* Q2 2026 | Ave monthly roommate rent Q2 2025 | Demand* Q2 2025 | YOY demand change (%) | YOY rent change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manhattan | $1,847 | 4.1 | $1,765 | 3.2 | 27.7 | 4.7 |
| The Bronx | $1,169 | 6.5 | $1,128 | 5.2 | 25.8 | 3.6 |
| Brooklyn | $1,448 | 4.3 | $1,406 | 3.6 | 19.9 | 3.0 |
| Queens | $1,266 | 5.6 | $1,237 | 5.1 | 8.9 | 2.3 |
*Demand is defined as the number of roommates enquiring per room available to rent on SpareRoom.com
Matt Hutchinson, director of roommate site SpareRoom, comments: “Popular roommate areas usually offer lower rents and relatively reliable access to Manhattan without requiring an unusually long commute. Places like Ronkonkoma are especially manageable for those able to work from home a few days per week. These are places that many roommates wouldn't have entertained living in five years ago, because sharing at a lower cost than renting solo gave them the opportunity to live in the city. Today, rent is so high, that opportunity is gone and roommates have little choice but to look elsewhere. It's really important to factor in the cost of the commute when deciding where to rent, as that can quickly erode any potential savings.”