Here in DC (One of the most expensive US metro areas), it's super common to rent a room in a 'group house' in your 20s with 2-5 other young professionals or stu

Here in DC (One of the most expensive US metro areas), it's super common to rent a room in a 'group house' in your 20s with 2-5 other young professionals or students. I'd say the majority of my 25-35 year old friend group started that way, and the single ones still do. That's partially a quirk of fast gentrification making housing super expensive, combined with lots of housing stock that fits well (row houses), and the fact that not many young people own cars, so parking isn't a problem. Given the choice I'm sure virtually all of them would prefer a 1br apartment, but that starts at $1800+/mo in the desirable parts of the city. Previously I lived in St. Louis, which is a much more spread out, cheap suburban city, and most of my friends had apartments. If I had to guess I'd say the 'group house' model (whatever the local nickname) is predominant in New York, SF, DC, Seattle, and a few other expensive, dense cities, and rarer in the more suburban cities of the midwest/south. In NYC people often share small apartments since even a row house is out of reach.