Philly apartments are shrinking. New ones will be even smaller

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New data shows that the average apartment in Philadelphia shrunk in size over the last decade.

The report from RentCafe found that new apartments built from 2016 through 2025 averaged about 750 square feet, about 100 square feet smaller than apartments built during the previous decade. That’s akin to losing enough space for a home office.

And the next wave of apartments under construction are still smaller, according to the report, averaging about 630 square feet.

Doug Ressler, manager of business intelligence at Yardi Matrix, RentCafe’s sister company, said the city’s market is responding to the demand from Gen Z, as well as the country’s broader affordability crisis.

“What you’re seeing is an influx of smaller studios, one-bedrooms. Less two-bedrooms, three-bedrooms. And it looks like Philly is making a product segmentation of compact units for smaller households,” Ressler said.

According to RentCafe, studio apartments make up around 11% of all available apartments in Philadelphia. That’s nearly double the nationwide average.

Gary Jonas, former president of the Building Industry Association of Philadelphia, said that stat is largely what’s driving the dip in average apartment size. But he doesn’t view the change as an outright negative.

“Maybe a generation ago, two people would get an apartment as roommates and rent together, and then you would get a two-bedroom apartment. Now what you’re seeing is people wanting to live alone and that forces them, because of what they can afford, into a studio,” said Jonas, managing member of the HOW Group, a real estate company that serves Greater Philadelphia.

They’re also willing to live in a smaller space if the building offers certain amenities.

“Now every building that gets built in the city has a gym, a rooftop deck and co-working space. So people are trading some of the apartment space for space outside the apartment and experience. So it’s a nuanced scheme. There’s a lot of things going on here,” Jonas said.

At the same time, studios are valuable for developers because the price per square foot is higher than it would be for a larger place.

The report comes as Philadelphia’s housing market remains tight, sidelining would-be homeowners who are remaining renters for longer. And while studio and one-bedroom apartments have gotten smaller, three-bedrooms are larger than the national average.