The tiny house movement is nationwide but four cities lead the country in their development.
Micro-housing is now a staple of new home construction, presenting new challenges for builders used to working on a larger scale. And even if the western part of the country is still the prime area for such undersized homes and apartments, you might be surprised to find out where the most new development is occurring today.
Right now, seven of the top ten cities in the country with the highest share of micro-housing are in the West, with San Francisco leading the way. In fact, about 15 percent of all the apartments in the city are smaller than 415 square feet.
Other cities ranked highest include Seattle, Honolulu and Portland, OR. In each, more than 10 percent of the housing stock consists of units under that 415-square-foot threshold. Rounding out the top ten are Oakland, CA; Reno, NV; Tucson, San Diego, Los Angeles and Phoenix.
But new tiny home development isn’t just happening in the West. Boston and Newark, NJ, join Seattle as the cities with the highest percentage of micro-housing being put in place. Seattle leads the new development race with nearly two-thirds of new rentals falling into this category but Boston, with 56 percent, and Newark with 50 percent are not far behind.
Even as it is growing, micro-housing remains a micro piece of the overall new housing construction market. Only about 2.4 percent of all newly delivered rental units in the 2020s are under 441 square feet. Still, that’s more than double the 1.1 percent share in the 2000s.
Tiny housing began as something more suited for factory workers and as temporary spaces for those moving into an area but more recently they’ve taken on a cache as homes for empty nesters, minimalists and those actively pursuing a sustainability mandate in their lives. Whatever the reason, micro-housing appears to be here to stay… and here in more places than you might think.
