Raphael Bohne
Research expert covering professional services
Coworking in the U.S. - statistics & facts
Coworking is where a group of professionally unrelated workers, usually from different employers, share a common office space. This differs from traditional office environments in two key respects. First, the office infrastructure is provided by the coworking provider, with each workspace being rented out for a short period, usually on a monthly basis. Second, there is a focus on shared values and collaboration, with the intention of forming a creative environment. This latter difference explains why coworking is especially popular amongst freelancers and people who work from home. Both these groups may want a place they are able to work from for only a few days a week, but which provides social connections and professional support.
The number of coworking spaces in the United States has been steadily increasing over the last decade, from just 283 in 2010 to a little over 5,000 in 2019. Coworking spaces are most common in the very large cities, such as New York and Los Angeles, or cities with prominent technology and creative industries, such as San Francisco and Seattle. Manhattan is by far the largest single market for coworking spaces, while District of Columbia was the fastest growing state. Los Angeles is the most expensive U.S. city for coworking space.
International Workplace Group (IWG) and WeWork are the two main providers of coworking space in the United States. IWG, also known as Regus, is a multinational company founded in Brussels in 1989. The company was created when an English entrepreneur realized there was a need for traveling business people to access flexible office space. Apart from the United States, IWG also maintain a large presence in Europe and the U.K. WeWork have similar entrepreneurial origins to IWG. Following the increase of vacant real estate and freelance workers New York City created by the financial crash of 2008, an entrepreneur thought to bring the two together. Since being founded in 2010, WeWork has grown to offer spaces across the U.S., and in many other international markets. While these two companies provide a large share of U.S. coworking space, there are also many coworking centers that are independently run, and are not part of a larger company.
The number of coworking spaces in the United States has been steadily increasing over the last decade, from just 283 in 2010 to a little over 5,000 in 2019. Coworking spaces are most common in the very large cities, such as New York and Los Angeles, or cities with prominent technology and creative industries, such as San Francisco and Seattle. Manhattan is by far the largest single market for coworking spaces, while District of Columbia was the fastest growing state. Los Angeles is the most expensive U.S. city for coworking space.
International Workplace Group (IWG) and WeWork are the two main providers of coworking space in the United States. IWG, also known as Regus, is a multinational company founded in Brussels in 1989. The company was created when an English entrepreneur realized there was a need for traveling business people to access flexible office space. Apart from the United States, IWG also maintain a large presence in Europe and the U.K. WeWork have similar entrepreneurial origins to IWG. Following the increase of vacant real estate and freelance workers New York City created by the financial crash of 2008, an entrepreneur thought to bring the two together. Since being founded in 2010, WeWork has grown to offer spaces across the U.S., and in many other international markets. While these two companies provide a large share of U.S. coworking space, there are also many coworking centers that are independently run, and are not part of a larger company.
