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Research Outline

Prepared for Brandon D. | Delivered May 3, 2021

Small City Co-Working Space

Goals

To understand the number of co-working space in small cities (e.g. cities with population of about 25k) in the USA, co-working space rates in small cities, trends, future prospects post COVID 19, and other information about the economies of co-working space.

Early Findings

The initial round of research indicates that concrete data is almost non-existent for co-working space in cities with 25,000 inhabitants, and there is limited information on co-working space specifically for cities/towns with a population of less than a hundred thousand. Most publications about co-working space in "small" cities were about cities with between 100,000 and 500,000 people.

Coworking Space in Small Cities

  • About 15% of all co-working spaces in the US are located in small cities with less than 100,000 inhabitants.
  • There were about 5,000 co-working spaces in the US in 2019. If 15% were located in small cities, that means there were about 750 (5,000* 15%) co-working spaces in small cities in the US.
  • The desk utilization rate for co-working space in small cities is 44%, compared to 48% in large cities.
  • "Although the desk utilization rate is the same, small-town dwellers work as half as often in their co-working spaces on daily basis (25%, compared to 50% in big cities). For this reason, only a third of them rent a dedicated desk, while in big cities the percentage of dedicated desk users is 42%."
  • Most coworkers in small cities prefer co-working spaces that have less than 20 desks and more private areas.

Summary

  • Our initial hour of research suggests that there is extremely limited data for co-working space in small cities where "small city" is defined as a city with less than 100,000 inhabitants.
  • We were unable to find data on the number of small cities with co-working space, but we found that 15% of co-working spaces in the US are located in small cities.
  • To uncover more data on co-working space in small cities, we would have to redefine small cities to cities with less than 250,000 inhabitants.
  • To find other related data, we recommend additional research. Details on our recommended research paths have been provided in our proposals below. Please select one or more proposals from those provided.