In many Texas cities, apartments are getting smaller. And one North Texas city leads the country in shrinking abodes.
Arlington’s new apartment size dropped by 215 square feet in the last decade, according to a new study from Rentcafe.com.
The average size of a new apartment built in Arlington between 2015 and 2024 was 902 square feet — down from an average of 1,117 for units built in the decade before 2015.
According to the study, developers are building more one-bedroom apartments in Arlington to match demand, and there are fewer two- and three-bedroom units being built. It’s a trend common throughout the region.
The share of one-bedroom units in Arlington rose to 56% in the past decade, up from 19% in the previous decade, said RentCafe research analyst Adina Dragos.
One-bedroom units also offer better profit opportunities for developers as land costs have increased.
Growth at the University of Texas at Arlington may also have contributed to the shrinking of apartment size in the city, said UTA finance and real estate professor Sriram Villupuram.
As of November 2024, UTA’s enrollment had increased nearly 20% over the past decade, according to the Fort Worth Report.
“Student enrollment is growing, and if students are their primary clientele, that would skew your average a little lower,” he said.
Other cities that have seen new apartments shrink the most are Birmingham, Ala., and Detroit.
In Dallas, the average size of an apartment dropped by 35 square feet over the past decade, bringing the typical apartment down to 897 square feet.
The average of the nation’s largest 100 cities was 908 square feet, down from 930 in 2015.
Construction trends have also contributed to the size decrease in Dallas, according to the study. One-bedroom apartments have made up 64% of all new construction over the last 10 years — up from 60% in the previous decade.
New apartments in Lewisville, however, got bigger by 13 square feet over the same period — one of the largest increases in the nation. The average size of a new apartment in Lewisville was just under 900 square feet.
Still, Texas is home to some of the nation’s largest apartments. The average size of a new apartment in Lubbock is 995 square feet, the 12th largest in the nation.
Apartment size data was provided by Yardi Matrix. The data is current as of February 2025. Rankings were based on the top 100 U.S. cities with the largest stock of apartments. Cities where fewer than 500 units were completed in one year were excluded from the report.
While new apartments have gotten smaller over the last decade, rents remain above pre-COVID levels.
The average one-bedroom apartment rents for $1,430 in Dallas, up more than 5% from last year. It’s the largest year-over-year increase among D-FW cities, according to real estate website Zumper’s May report.
The most expensive apartment market is Frisco at $1,630, a more than 1% drop from last year.