Alula Hunsen, 24, lives in a six-bedroom apartment in Allston. He and his five roommates share the space, which has only two bathrooms and one kitchen, not because they hate having privacy, but because Boston is crazy expensive, he said. “Affordability is really the only reason that I’m living in this configuration,” said Hunsen, a writer and MIT graduate student.
With the cost of living skyrocketing in Massachusetts, more renters said they have no choice but to reside with more and more people if they want to stay in the city, where they can be closer to their jobs, friends, and a vibrant social scene. With a recent study showing Massachusetts now has the highest cost of living on the mainland United States, for some locals that means having four, five, six, or even more roommates to be able to make rent. Advertisement The current average rent for a studio apartment in Boston is $2,350, while a one-bedroom is $2,750, according to Apartment Advisor, a Cambridge-based apartment-search platform.
The more bedrooms you add, the more the average price decreases: about $1,700 per person for a two-bedroom apartment and $1,400 per person for a three bedroom. It’s an equation that many young Bostonians said is increasingly appealing in a housing market that is brutal for both homeowners and renters alike. Boston Pads, an online real estate marketplace, said in a February report that renters across the city “appear to be gravitating towards shared spaces where they can reduce.