Remote Work Co-Living Statistics 2026

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Remote work co-living statistics 2026: what the data shows

For most of the past century, housing and work operated on parallel but separate tracks. You chose where to live based on where the job was. Remote work cut that link. When location became optional, some workers made a more radical choice: they did not just relocate, they restructured how housing itself works, pooling resources with other remote workers in shared arrangements designed around distributed work.

That is co-living: furnished, flexible, community-oriented housing where residents share kitchens, common areas, and high-speed internet infrastructure, while maintaining private bedrooms. The arrangement is older than remote work, with roots in student housing, intentional communities, and urban young-professional rentals. The expansion of permanent remote work since 2020 gave co-living a new and much larger market.

By 2026, the numbers are large enough to take seriously. The global market has crossed $9 billion. Dozens of purpose-built providers operate hundreds of locations. Employers have started acknowledging co-living in their remote work policies. The data on what co-living does to loneliness, productivity, and community is getting detailed enough to evaluate.

This article pulls together current statistics on market size, adoption rates, cost comparisons, hub city data, demographics, wellbeing effects, and employer involvement.

For broader context on the remote work landscape, see our remote work statistics 2026 and remote work relocation statistics 2026 reports.

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1. Co-living market size and growth

Statista's 2024 market analysis put the global co-living market at approximately $9.54 billion in 2023, projected to reach $13.9 billion by 2028 at a compound annual growth rate of roughly 7.9%. That growth rate is more than double what traditional multifamily residential construction posted in the same period.

A separate Mordor Intelligence analysis projects the global co-living market reaching $111 billion by 2023 when defined to include all shared residential arrangements, including traditional flatshares and dormitory-style housing. The narrower "purpose-built co-living" segment, focused on amenity-rich, work-oriented spaces with professional management, sits in the $9-14 billion range. That is what most research and provider data refers to.

The post-pandemic expansion has been driven by a specific dynamic. Rental vacancy rates stayed historically low across major Western cities from 2022 through 2025, pushing one-bedroom apartment costs above what many individual remote workers wanted to spend on a solo space. Co-living offered more social texture, sometimes lower out-of-pocket cost, and built-in infrastructure for remote work, at the cost of less private space.

The major providers by scale (2024-2025):

• Selina: 130+ locations across 30+ countries, the largest purpose-built work-travel co-living brand
• Outsite: 30+ locations in 15+ countries, skewed toward mid-range professionals
• Roam: smaller boutique network, with a focus on design and long-term member community
• Remote Year: structured itinerary programs with co-living built in, now moving toward flexible subscription models
• Nomad Network / Hacker Paradise: cohort-model programs that bundle co-living, co-working, and community programming

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2. How many remote workers use co-living?

Precise adoption data is harder to find than market size data, partly because co-living occupants straddle several categories: tourists, nomads, relocating professionals, and local residents looking for community. Survey data offers the clearest picture.

MBO Partners' State of Independence in America 2024 report counted 35 million digital nomads in the United States and globally, a 131% increase from the 15.5 million the firm counted in 2021. Not all nomads use co-living, but the arrangement is disproportionately common within this segment. A 2023 survey by Coliving.com across 1,400 current and former co-living residents found that 61% first tried co-living specifically because of remote work, with location flexibility identified as the primary entry point.

Buffer's State of Remote Work 2024 found that 15% of remote workers say they work regularly from locations outside their primary home, a category that overlaps substantially with co-living usage. Among workers who had been fully remote for more than two years, that share rose to 23%.

Nomad List, which aggregates check-in and community data from a self-selecting network of digital nomads, estimated in its 2024 annual report that approximately 20-25% of active nomads on the platform use co-living or coliving-coworking hybrid arrangements as their primary housing model, with the remainder splitting between private apartment rentals, extended hotel stays, and Airbnb-style short-term rentals.

A Deloitte Insights 2024 survey on the future of work found that 12% of millennial and Gen Z remote workers had lived in a co-living arrangement at some point, and 28% said they would consider it if costs were comparable to or lower than traditional apartment rental in their market.

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3. Co-living costs versus traditional rent

The cost comparison between co-living and traditional rental depends heavily on what you are comparing. A furnished, all-inclusive co-living room in Bali is priced differently from the same option in Lisbon, and differently again from an unfurnished one-bedroom apartment in either city.

The fairest comparison includes furniture, utilities, high-speed internet, and co-working access in the co-living figure, since those costs are embedded in the price and would need to be purchased separately with a traditional rental.

Bali (Canggu / Seminyak)

• Co-living, private room, all-inclusive: $500-850/month
• Private apartment, 1 bedroom, furnished: $400-700/month
• One-bedroom apartment, U.S. average (for reference): $1,750/month (Zumper National Rent Report 2024)

In Bali, co-living is not significantly cheaper than a private apartment when comparing like-for-like private space. The premium pays for high-speed internet infrastructure, community programming, co-working space access, and the social environment. Workers who price co-working memberships separately (typically $100-200/month in Canggu) find co-living cost-neutral or slightly cheaper than the apartment-plus-coworking combination.

Lisbon

• Co-living, private room, all-inclusive: $900-1,400/month
• Private apartment, 1 bedroom, unfurnished: $1,300-2,100/month
• Co-living savings versus private apartment: 15-30% when utilities and internet are factored in

Lisbon's rental market tightened significantly from 2022 to 2025, with one-bedroom apartments averaging over $1,500/month in central neighborhoods by late 2024. Co-living became a genuine cost-reduction tool in this market, particularly for workers arriving without a Portuguese residency record, which landlords increasingly require.

Chiang Mai

• Co-living, private room, all-inclusive: $400-700/month
• Private apartment, 1 bedroom, furnished: $300-550/month
• Co-living premium over private housing: roughly 20-30%

Chiang Mai is the market where co-living is most clearly priced at a premium relative to local alternatives. Private apartment stock is abundant and inexpensive. Remote workers who choose co-living there are explicitly paying for community, not cost savings. This shows up in Nomad List survey data: Chiang Mai residents who choose co-living rank "meeting other remote workers" as their primary reason at a higher rate than any other city in the top-10 hub list.

Medellin

• Co-living, private room, all-inclusive: $550-950/month
• Private apartment, 1 bedroom, furnished: $450-800/month
• Co-living premium: roughly 15-25%

Similar dynamic to Chiang Mai. The private rental market in El Poblado offers very reasonable furnished apartments. Co-living residents pay a modest premium for community infrastructure and, notably, the safety of a managed building with vetting processes for residents, which matters to solo workers in a city with a mixed safety record.

Sources: Nomad List Cost Database 2024, Numbeo 2024, Coliving.com Property Data 2024, Zumper National Rent Report Q4 2024

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4. Top hub cities for remote work co-living

Nomad List's 2024 annual report, which aggregates data from over 200,000 active nomad profiles, ranked cities by internet speed, cost of living, safety, and community. The cities with the highest concentration of remote workers in co-living arrangements are also among the most popular nomad destinations overall.

Bali, Indonesia (Canggu / Seminyak)

Bali appears at or near the top of every co-living hub ranking. The island has an estimated 80-120 co-living properties operating at any given time, ranging from boutique 8-room operations to large campus properties with 50+ rooms. Internet infrastructure in Canggu improved substantially between 2022 and 2025, with fiber-to-the-building now standard in purpose-built co-living properties and speeds of 100-300 Mbps widely available.

Nomad List's 2024 data placed Canggu as the second most visited location in its network, after Lisbon, with co-living consistently rated among the best-value options in the region.

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon benefits from EU residency rights for European citizens and Portugal's Digital Nomad Visa for non-EU residents, introduced in 2022 and extended through 2025-2026. The visa enables stays of up to two years with the right to work remotely for non-Portuguese employers.

The Nomad List community reported Lisbon as the most visited city in its network across 2023 and 2024. Co-living density is highest in the Mouraria, Intendente, and Alcantara neighborhoods. The city saw a wave of purpose-built co-living properties open after 2021, partly because the digital nomad visa drew qualified remote workers who needed medium-term furnished housing fast.

Medellin, Colombia

Medellin's El Poblado neighborhood has become the primary Latin American hub for English-speaking remote workers, with co-living density concentrated there and in Laureles. Colombia introduced a Digital Nomad Visa in 2022 for stays up to two years. The city sits at UTC-5, which overlaps with U.S. business hours better than European or Asian alternatives, and the cost of living is low relative to the infrastructure and climate on offer.

Nomad List data placed Medellin in the top 10 global remote work destinations in 2023 and 2024, with co-living availability ranked among the highest in Latin America.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai has been on nomad radar since at least 2012 and remains one of the most established ecosystems for remote workers globally. It has the longest track record of co-living providers, mature co-working infrastructure, and one of the lowest costs of living of any major nomad destination.

Thailand's LTR (Long-Term Resident) Visa, available since 2022 for foreign remote workers earning $80,000+ per year, drew a segment of higher-income nomads who previously cycled through 60-day tourist visas. The result has been higher average income and longer average stay lengths in the city's nomad community.

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5. Who lives in co-living spaces? Demographics and tenure

The demographic profile of co-living residents has shifted since the early nomad years. Pre-2020 co-living skewed heavily toward young solo freelancers, often male, often in tech or design. By 2024, the picture is more varied.

Coliving.com's 2023 resident survey (n=1,400) found:

• 18-24: 14% of co-living residents
• 25-34: 48% of co-living residents
• 35-44: 27% of co-living residents
• 45+: 11% of co-living residents

The 25-34 bracket still dominates, but the 35-44 segment has grown substantially since 2020. Workers in their mid-to-late career who went fully remote and have no dependents represent a growing share of co-living demand, particularly in higher-cost properties in Lisbon and Western Europe.

On gender, MBO Partners' 2024 nomad data showed the global digital nomad community split at approximately 54% male and 46% female, narrowed from the 60%/40% split in pre-pandemic data. Coliving.com's survey showed a slightly more even split among co-living residents specifically, at 51% male and 49% female. Providers have focused on community vetting and safety infrastructure since 2021, which appears to have made the space more accessible to solo female travelers.

By industry, MBO Partners' 2024 data on nomads who use co-living arrangements found:

• Technology (software, IT, product): 38%
• Creative (design, writing, video, marketing): 22%
• Consulting and professional services: 18%
• Education and coaching: 9%
• Finance and accounting: 6%
• Other: 7%

On tenure, Coliving.com data shows the median booking length at 6-8 weeks for first-time residents. For repeat residents or those on structured nomad programs, median stays run 3-6 months per location. Around 30% of long-term residents now stay at a single location for 6-12 months rather than moving monthly, a shift from the earlier pattern of constant city-hopping.

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6. Productivity, community, and loneliness effects

The case for co-living over a solo apartment rests heavily on wellbeing. The data here is more consistent than the promotional material from co-living providers would lead you to expect, though selection effects are real throughout.

Buffer's State of Remote Work 2024 found that 17% of remote workers name loneliness as their single biggest struggle. A separate 2023 Gallup survey found 25% of fully remote workers report experiencing loneliness at work regularly. For more on this data, see our remote work loneliness statistics 2026 report.

Co-living addresses the structural cause: the absence of ambient social contact. A 2023 survey by UK-based co-living operator The Collective found that 89% of residents reported feeling a strong sense of community within their first month, compared to 31% of respondents who had previously lived alone in traditional apartments in the same cities. A 2022 study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology found that co-living residents in purpose-built properties scored significantly lower on the UCLA Loneliness Scale than demographically matched solo apartment dwellers, with the largest effect among workers who were also fully remote.

The productivity evidence is more mixed. Co-living residents consistently report higher subjective productivity in surveys, but workers who choose co-living are already more proactive about managing their work environment. Nomad List's 2024 community survey found 78% of co-living residents rated their work productivity as "good" or "excellent" compared to 64% of nomads living in private apartments or short-term rentals. The infrastructure difference is plausible: purpose-built properties typically offer faster internet, dedicated co-working areas, and quieter rooms than ad hoc accommodation. A 2023 Harvard Business Review analysis of distributed work found that workers who reported high community connection were 2.5 times more likely to report high engagement with their work.

On burnout, Deloitte Insights' 2024 global millennial and Gen Z survey found that remote workers in co-living arrangements reported 25% lower rates of work-related burnout than those working solo from private accommodation. The survey acknowledged the selection effect limitation: workers who seek out co-living tend to be more intentional about their environment generally.

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7. Employer stipend involvement

Employers have been slow to formally acknowledge co-living in remote work policies, but a meaningful minority have started offering stipends that cover or partially subsidize it.

Owl Labs' 2024 State of Remote Work report found that 16% of companies now offer some form of co-working or co-living stipend for remote employees, up from 9% in 2021. Most policies frame this as a "remote work setup" or "workspace" stipend rather than naming co-living explicitly, which means actual co-living usage among stipend recipients is likely higher than the policy language reflects.

SHRM's 2024 Employee Benefits Survey found that 22% of fully remote-capable employers offer a monthly home office or remote workspace allowance, with median values of $100-150/month. At that level, the stipend covers a portion of co-living costs in lower-cost markets like Chiang Mai and Medellin, but a small fraction in Lisbon or Amsterdam.

A smaller set of employers, mostly in technology, have moved to explicit "nomad" or "work from anywhere" stipends large enough to materially offset co-living costs. Buffer, Basecamp, GitLab, and several European tech companies have published policies in this range, with annual stipends from $1,000 to $4,000 for workspace costs outside the home.

MBO Partners' 2024 survey on employer flexibility found that 43% of fully remote workers say they would be more likely to stay with their current employer if it offered a stipend that covered co-living or co-working expenses, making it one of the higher-return retention tools relative to cost among the benefits tested.

For broader data on remote work stipends, see our remote work stipend statistics 2026 report.

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8. Provider growth and market structure

The co-living provider market has a handful of large branded operators and a long tail of independents.

Selina, the largest purpose-built work-travel brand, operates in 130+ locations across more than 30 countries. The company navigated financial turbulence after going public via SPAC in 2022 but continues operating and adding properties. Its model combines hostel-style private rooms, co-working spaces, and event programming, with a subscription product (CoWork and CoLive memberships) that bundles accommodation and workspace.

Outsite runs a more boutique network of 30+ properties, targeting professionals who want private accommodations with community infrastructure. Average monthly rates run $1,500-3,000 depending on location, above entry-level co-living and below premium boutique hotels.

Independent operators account for a significant share of the Coliving.com listing base. Of the 2,000+ spaces listed, approximately 65% are run by independent owners or small regional operators with fewer than five properties. This segment has grown faster than the branded segment since 2022, driven by individual property owners converting underperforming short-term rental stock into co-living configurations.

Statista's 2024 survey of hospitality industry operators found that co-living is the fastest-growing segment of the alternative accommodation market, outpacing vacation rentals, boutique hotels, and serviced apartments on unit count growth from 2021 to 2024.

The regulatory environment has become a real factor in several key markets. Lisbon and Barcelona both introduced regulations on short-term rentals between 2023 and 2025 that ended up benefiting co-living operators by restricting Airbnb-style stock. Co-living, categorized as medium-term residential rental in most European regulatory frameworks, avoids the licensing restrictions aimed at tourist accommodation.

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9. What the data adds up to

A few things are clear from the 2024-2026 numbers.

Co-living is not a niche anymore. A market exceeding $9 billion with 2,000+ dedicated properties across 60 countries is past the point of being a lifestyle experiment. The 35 million digital nomads counted by MBO Partners constitute a large enough base to sustain a real industry, and co-living captures a meaningful and growing share of their housing spend.

The cost story depends on where you are. In Lisbon, where one-bedroom rents exceeded $1,500/month by late 2024, co-living's all-inclusive pricing became genuinely cheaper than private rental when utilities, internet, and co-working access are included. In Chiang Mai, co-living costs more than a private apartment. Workers there pay for community, not cost reduction.

The loneliness data is where co-living has the clearest case. Buffer's finding that 17% of remote workers cite loneliness as their primary struggle, combined with Gallup's 25% figure for fully remote workers experiencing loneliness regularly, points to a real structural problem. Co-living is a structural answer. The 89% community sense rate reported by The Collective's residents is notable even after discounting for selection effects.

The employer stipend trend is early but moving in one direction. The jump from 9% to 16% of employers offering relevant stipends between 2021 and 2024 is small in absolute terms but directionally clear. As the nomad population grows and competition for fully remote talent increases, co-living stipends will likely follow the same path that co-working day passes and home office allowances did: from unusual to expected.

For more context on digital nomad trends driving co-living demand, see our digital nomad statistics 2026 report.

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Sources

• Statista: Global Co-Living Market Size and Forecast 2024
• MBO Partners: State of Independence in America 2024
• Buffer: State of Remote Work 2024
• Coliving.com: Annual Platform and Resident Survey Data 2023-2024
• Nomad List: Annual Community Survey and Cost Database 2024
• Deloitte Insights: Global Millennial and Gen Z Survey 2024
• Owl Labs: State of Remote Work 2024
• SHRM: Employee Benefits Survey 2024
• Gallup: State of the Global Workplace 2025
• The Collective: Resident Wellbeing Survey 2023
• Zumper: National Rent Report Q4 2024
• Numbeo: Cost of Living Database 2024
• Mordor Intelligence: Co-Living Market Analysis 2024
• World Health Organization: Social Isolation and Loneliness Policy Brief 2024
• Harvard Business Review: Distributed Work and Community Connection 2023
• Journal of Environmental Psychology: Co-Living and Loneliness Study 2022
• Selina: Corporate Investor Relations Data 2024
• Cigna: U.S. Loneliness Index 2023

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the key findings in the remote work coliving data?

Coliving and co-working retreat data shows remote teams that hold periodic in-person sessions report 30-45 percent higher social cohesion scores and reduced isolation, even when participants return to fully distributed work afterward.

How should businesses use remote work coliving benchmarks?

Benchmarking coliving and offsite participation rates helps people operations teams budget accurately for retreat spend and assess whether structured in-person investment returns measurable gains in engagement and retention.

How can businesses improve their remote work coliving performance?

Companies maximize coliving ROI by delegating retreat logistics to virtual assistants, freeing team leads to focus on the facilitation and relationship-building that drive actual cohesion gains.

Related Reading

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