Buy a house? Here’s what you need to know
From the cheapest cities to the best time to buy, here’s everything you need to know if you’re looking to buy a home.
america today
From Bert and Ernie to Will and Grace, the urban roommate situation is very familiar and deeply ingrained in American popular culture.
But now, the housing affordability crisis is extending roommate life far beyond the big cities where many Americans begin their lives as young adults. According to an analysis by SpareRoom, an online roommate search tool, the number of people looking for roommates in smaller cities has more than doubled in the past few years. Such calls are also surging in suburban areas and commuter communities around metropolitan areas.
“Sharing is the most affordable way to rent, but even roommates are moving out of expensive cities and downtowns to reduce the cost of living,” the company said in a release accompanying an analysis that looked at more than 16 million roommate searches in 2025 compared to 2024.
This trend is evident in several major regions across the country, including suburban communities around Dallas-Fort Worth. Roommate searches have increased by 145% in Rockwall, which has more single-family homes, and have nearly doubled in Tomball and Conroe. Rents in the DFW metro have increased 15% since the pandemic, according to USA TODAY’s interactive rent tracker.
In the Atlanta area, where prices have increased 17% since the pandemic, roommate searches are on the rise in suburbs like Dunwoody (up 201%), Brookhaven (up 176%) and Sandy Springs (up 162%).
“The lifestyles offered in suburban Sunbelt areas may be accommodating the growing number of people in their 40s, 50s, and beyond who are choosing to share a home to reduce the cost of homeownership and living alone,” the Spare Room release states.
A previous report from SpareRoom showed that roommates over the age of 45 accounted for roughly a tenth of the total market a decade ago, but now account for nearly a quarter of that market. For more information on rental prices in many U.S. metropolitan areas and how those costs have changed over time, check out USA TODAY’s online rental tracker.
But the outward shift away from big cities is not just a Sunbelt phenomenon. For example, in the New York City area, Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighborhood, one of the furthest neighborhoods from Manhattan, saw a 106% increase in searches for roommates. Calls to the Ronkonkoma area of Long Island increased by 128%.
As of 2023, a whopping one-half of all renters will be “cost-burdened.” That means you’re spending more than 30% of your income on housing and utilities. This includes 27% who spend more than half of their income on these expenses.
