New Report: Colorado Is the Most Expensive State for Coworking

Coworking spaces have started to appear throughout the country and the world. They provide a professional setting for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and individuals to work -- something that used to be difficult to find. Previously, the options were working from one’s home or signing a lease on office space. Working from home is inexpensive and risk-free, though it’s difficult to appear professional to outsiders -- meetings would either take place there or at a public place. Office space does provide a professional workplace, though it’s expensive and a big undertaking to a sign a lease for a year or more. Enter: the coworking space -- the perfect in between. It’s no wonder the count has grown from 3 in 2005 all the way to 15,500 in 2017.

As it turns out, Colorado is somewhat of a hotspot for coworking relative to other areas in the United States according to a new study. When comparing all states, CO comes in at the most expensive -- it’s $1,250 for a single person’s coworking pass on average. For this reason, office space for one employee is actually cheaper per month than coworking space, on average. As noted previously, however, there are certain benefits to this new type of workspace that likely outweigh the added expense. The fact that there’s no lease is a significant one.

Besides the cost, the count of coworking spaces is also higher than average in Colorado cities. In Denver, there is 31.51 of them per 100,000 residents. The highest in the nation is San Francisco, CA at 51.45, which is 63% higher than Denver’s rate.The city with the lowest in the nation is San Antonio, TX -- there are a mere 3.24 coworking spaces per 100,000 citizens. (This city is working on initiatives to develop its business environment, so this number could increase at a higher rate than other cities moving forward.)

Because of its benefits to new small teams, traveling business people, and entrepreneurs, it’s likely that coworking spaces will continue to grow. The giant in the industry is WeWork, which is seen in cities nationwide. However, there are many local coworking spaces that continue to compete with this Goliath. Whether corporate or local, the count of these will very likely continue to increase in years to come.