ApartmentAdvisor Roommate Survey (2024)

While not everyone chooses to be best friends with their roommate, it’s undeniable that roommates have close relationships. They’re living, eating, sleeping, and often working in the same space every day — for better or for worse. If they’re compatible, it can be a dream come true for renters; if not, a roommate situation can quickly become a nightmare. That’s why we launched our Roommate Compatibility Quiz, which can help you determine what kind of roommate you are — and what kind your perfect roommate who would be.

To learn more about common roommate habits, we looked at quiz answers from over 1,000 people from the last year. Dig into some of the survey results below.

Respondents are split on cost splitting, but most prefer to keep track of expenses. When asked about their preferences on sharing household expenses, 50.5% of respondents agreed that they’d prefer to use an app like Splitwise to tally and then equally split costs. 36.7% claimed to be neutral on the topic, and 12.8% said that they’d rather estimate and assume expenses would even out eventually. Respondents who preferred to share expenses equally were also more likely to be accepting of roommates having guests over whenever they wanted.

Significant others are also on the hook when it comes to cost splitting. More respondents (36.2%) than not (33%) expect a roommate’s significant other to pitch in on expenses like groceries and utilities if they sleep over often. A slightly smaller segment of respondents (30.7%) felt neutral on the topic. A majority of respondents (62.5%) also prefer to share common groceries with their roommates rather than buy their own.

If given the choice, most people would prefer a roommate who they can spend time with socially. When asked whether they’d want a roommate who they’d be able to hang out with a few times a week at home, 64.1% of respondents agreed while 9.6% disagreed (26.4% remained neutral.) This trend isn’t contained to just the home, either; 49.2% of respondents also said they want a roommate who they can go out with often as well, leaving 15.6% who said they would rather not and 35.1% who were neutral. Only 9% of respondents said that they would not prefer to be close friends with their roommate.

Home isn’t just a place to hang your hat, according to most respondents. Most people (58.6%) responded that doing “home-building” activities like decorating together with their roommate was important to them, with only 13.3% disagreed and 28.1% remained neutral. On the flip side, only 15.2% of respondents said they’d want to decorate their apartment alone. And while most respondents (44.1%) remained neutral on the topic, more said they’d like to have dinner together with their roommate whenever possible (31.2%) rather than not (24.7%).

When it comes to cleanliness, the consensus is clear: Keep common spaces neat. Almost all survey respondents (78.2%) said they prefer to keep common spaces clean and organized at all times — but the lines became blurrier when it came to assigning chores. Only 37.8% of respondents said they’d prefer to have a cleaning schedule or roommate agreement to address chores, while 32.7% said they’d rather play things by ear. 29.4% remained neutral. Most people (74.5%) also agree that it is the sole responsibility of the roommate who invites guests over to clean up before and after them, and that they’d rather not help. Just 8.8% disagreed and 16.7% remained neutral. 

Quiet hours can be polarizing, but most people prefer them. The best roommates also have matching sleep schedules, it seems. When asked if they preferred to have set “quiet hours” in the evening during weekdays, 40.5% said yes. A smaller group (31.4%) disagreed and 28.1% were neutral.

Most believe that, when roommate issues arise, they are very direct in addressing them. When asked about their communication styles, 57.8% of respondents said that they are very communicative with roommates when it comes to addressing issues, while 14.3% said they were not. Those who said they are very communicative were also more likely to want to take charge in apartment-related tasks.

Finding a roommate who you’re compatible with can be the key to a stress-free living situation. To find out your roommate personality type, fill out our free roommate questionnaire now. And if you’re struggling with a current roommate relationship, check out some of our resources on cohabitation.

For the ApartmentAdvisor Roommate Survey, we analyzed 1,016 responses to our Roommate Compatibility Quiz. The quiz has been online and collecting responses since June 5, 2023. 

Looking for a comment or more information about this report? Please email pr@apartmentadvisor.com.

For more, check out our National Rent Report (updated monthly), our Market Reports (updated daily), and the News section of our blog, where we regularly publish data-driven stories about renting.