How Big Is the Average San Francisco Apartment?

The median San Francisco one-bedroom ad listed 667 square feet and asked $6.89 per square foot a month. That comes from 2,124 one-bedroom ads that stated a size (59.2% of 3,590), first seen April 4 to October 12, 2026. A studio was 450 sq ft and a two-bedroom 1,026 sq ft.

Published October 15, 2026. Asking rents and stated sizes in City of San Francisco rental ads first seen April 4 to October 12, 2026.

These are sizes and rents that landlords and agents put in their ads, not measured floor plans or signed leases. Only ads that stated a size count toward the size figures, and those ads asked more than ads without a size: a median $4,871 a month against $4,350. Read every size on this page as the size of the somewhat pricier ads.

Use the calculator below to see what your budget buys in each neighborhood.

How big is a 1 bedroom apartment in San Francisco?

A San Francisco one-bedroom ad listed a median of 667 square feet. Half of the 2,124 one-bedroom ads with a size fell between 579 and 761 sq ft. The ads were first seen April 4 to October 12, 2026.

• Studio: median 450 sq ft. The middle half ran from 375 to 506 sq ft (1,183 ads).
• 1 bedroom: median 667 sq ft, middle half 579 to 761 sq ft (2,124 ads).
• 2 bedrooms: median 1,026 sq ft, middle half 912 to 1,180 sq ft (1,637 ads).
• 3 bedrooms: median 1,464 sq ft, middle half 1,226 to 1,737 sq ft (371 ads).
• 4 or more bedrooms: median 1,962 sq ft (106 ads).

So a typical two-bedroom was about 360 sq ft bigger than a typical one-bedroom, and a one-bedroom about 220 sq ft bigger than a studio.

What is the average rent per square foot in San Francisco?

The median San Francisco apartment ad asked $6.66 per square foot a month, across 5,421 apartments with a usable size. The middle half asked $5.49 to $7.92. Smaller homes asked more per square foot.

• Studio: $7.68 per sq ft a month. At the median size of 450 sq ft, the median studio ad asked $3,195 (all 2,219 studio ads).
• 1 bedroom: $6.89 per sq ft. Median ask $4,490 (3,590 ads).
• 2 bedrooms: $6.14 per sq ft. Median ask $6,249 (2,530 ads).
• 3 bedrooms: $5.32 per sq ft. Median ask $7,495 (617 ads).

These are monthly figures. Office and shop rents are often quoted per square foot per year, so they are not comparable with these numbers.

Our one-bedroom median here ($4,490) is higher than the $4,250 in our Bay Area rents report. That report counts home-search portal ads, which this report leaves out, and only ads still active when it was read. Under that report's rules without the portal ads, the one-bedroom median was $4,452 (2,797 units, read October 15), close to the figure here.

Do ads that state a size ask more?

Yes, at every bedroom count. 59.3% of the 9,139 apartments had a usable size, and those ads asked a median of $4,871 a month. The 3,514 ads with no size at all asked $4,350.

A one-bedroom ad with a size asked a median of $4,586, and one without asked $4,271. For studios the gap was $3,475 against $2,995. Apartments in buildings from 1979 or later stated a usable size more often (70.7%) than those in pre-1979 apartment buildings (47.4%), so the size figures lean toward newer and pricier apartments.

Which San Francisco neighborhoods give you the most space for the rent?

Lakeshore had the lowest median ask per square foot of the 26 neighborhoods we could measure: $3.68 a month (116 ads with a size). Chinatown had the highest at $8.66 (54 ads), then the Financial District at $8.40 (289 ads).

A neighborhood's figure mixes all bedroom counts, and larger homes ask less per square foot. Lakeshore's ads were mostly one- and two-bedrooms, and Downtown/Civic Center's were mostly studios. So compare the same bedroom count where the table has enough ads:

• One-bedroom size: the largest medians were Castro/Upper Market (755 sq ft, 31 ads), the Marina (730 sq ft), Pacific Heights (726 sq ft) and Lakeshore (723 sq ft). The smallest were Haight Ashbury (585 sq ft), Russian Hill (590 sq ft) and Nob Hill (598 sq ft).
• One-bedroom rent per square foot: Russian Hill asked the most ($9.24, 43 ads), then the Financial District ($8.45, 136 ads). Lakeshore asked the least ($4.14, 32 ads).
• South of Market, with 750 one-bedroom ads that stated a size, had a median of 716 sq ft at $6.82 per sq ft.

Each neighborhood name in the table links to its San Francisco average rent page, which shows current asking rents by size.

How much space does $4,000 rent you in San Francisco?

At $4,000 a month, 77.4% of studio ads and 35.6% of one-bedroom ads in San Francisco asked that or less. The one-bedrooms within $4,000 had a median of 616 sq ft. Only 9.8% of two-bedroom ads were within $4,000.

The calculator at the top of this page does this for any budget from $1,500 to $12,000 and any of the 26 neighborhoods. Some citywide points:

• $3,000: 45.0% of studio ads (median 370 sq ft) and 13.6% of one-bedroom ads (median 650 sq ft) were within budget.
• $5,000: 70.4% of one-bedroom ads (median 645 sq ft) and 25.1% of two-bedroom ads (median 942 sq ft).
• $6,000: 45.1% of two-bedroom ads (median 953 sq ft) and 30.3% of three-bedroom ads (median 1,350 sq ft).

The cheaper one-bedrooms were not much smaller. The 489 one-bedrooms within $3,000 had a median of 650 sq ft, against 667 sq ft for all one-bedrooms. The largest group, 104 of them, was in Downtown/Civic Center, then 53 in South of Market.

Are older, rent-controlled San Francisco apartments smaller?

Yes, in our data. A one-bedroom in a pre-1979 apartment building, the group most San Francisco rent control covers, had a median of 636 sq ft (751 ads with a size). A one-bedroom in a building from 1979 or later had 694 sq ft (963 ads).

We matched each apartment's address to the San Francisco Assessor's 2025 property roll for the year built and the type of building, as in our report on how many SF apartments for rent are rent controlled. Of the 9,139 apartments, 4,151 were in apartment buildings with 2 or more units built 1978 or earlier, and 3,133 were in buildings from 1979 or later. 665 were older single-family homes or condos, and we could not place 1,190.

• Studio: 402 sq ft in pre-1979 buildings, 472 sq ft in 1979 or later.
• 2 bedrooms: 942 sq ft against 1,075 sq ft.
• 3 bedrooms: 1,400 sq ft against 1,518 sq ft (only 62 newer three-bedroom ads had a size).
• Per square foot, older buildings asked a little less for a one-bedroom ($6.76 against $7.09) and a studio ($6.96 against $8.03).

The two groups sit in different places: 1,587 of the 3,133 apartments in newer buildings were in South of Market. In the five neighborhood and bedroom groups where both kinds had at least 30 ads with a size, the newer apartments were larger in all five, for example 615 against 680 sq ft for a Western Addition one-bedroom. This is a comparison of ads, not a cause. Rent control limits rent increases for a sitting tenant, not the first rent.

Size did not simply grow with age. One-bedrooms in buildings from the 2000s had the largest median (789 sq ft, 231 ads), and those in buildings from the 2020s the smallest (587 sq ft, 114 ads).

Are apartments bigger in Oakland, San Jose or Berkeley?

Not by much, but they cost far less per square foot. A one-bedroom ad in Oakland listed a median of 678 sq ft at $4.10 per sq ft a month. In San Jose it was 737 sq ft at $4.24. In San Francisco it was 667 sq ft at $6.89.

• Berkeley one-bedrooms were smaller, at a median of 612 sq ft and $4.62 per sq ft. Only 95 of 413 Berkeley one-bedroom ads (23%) stated a size, so treat that figure with care.
• Mountain View asked the most per square foot outside San Francisco: $5.82 for a 700 sq ft one-bedroom.
• Hayward asked the least of these ten cities: $3.39 for a 703 sq ft one-bedroom.

For whole-city rents by size, see our Bay Area average rents by city and the Bay Area rents report. To weigh rent against commute time, see San Francisco, Oakland or Berkeley? Compare rent and commute costs.

How we measured San Francisco apartment sizes

• Data: San Francisco rental ads that RentReboot collected from rental marketplaces, building and property manager websites and brokerage websites, first seen from April 4 to October 12, 2026. We do not name or count individual listing sites.
• City of San Francisco: ads with a ZIP code starting 941. Neighborhoods are the 26 areas of our San Francisco average rent pages with at least 30 ads that stated a size; 213 ads placed only at city level are in the citywide figures, not in a neighborhood.
• Left out: home-search portal ads, classified-board ads, rooms in shared homes, asks under $1,000 or over $20,000, and listings with no whole-number bedroom count from 0 to 6.
• One ad per apartment: the latest ad for each property record in the window. 9,139 apartments in all.
• Sizes: the square feet stated in the ad. 5,625 apartments stated a size. We dropped 163 sizes outside a plausible range for the bedroom count (studio 200 to 1,200 sq ft, 1 bedroom 350 to 1,600, 2 bedrooms 550 to 2,600, 3 bedrooms 750 to 3,800, 4 bedrooms 1,000 to 5,000, 5 or 6 bedrooms 1,000 to 6,000), such as building totals and placeholder values, and 41 sizes repeated across different bedroom counts in one building. That left 5,421 (59.3%).
• Rent per square foot: each ad's monthly ask divided by its size; we report the median of those.
• Minimum sample: a median or share appears only for a group with at least 30 ads.
• Building age: year built and type from the San Francisco Assessor's 2025 secured roll, matched by address range, or else by the nearest parcel within 25 meters. The year built on the roll is not the date of first occupancy that rent control uses.
• With classified-board ads added (26,653 apartments), median sizes barely moved (one-bedroom 667 sq ft, studio 441 sq ft), but the one-bedroom median rent fell to $3,000 and the median ask per square foot to $5.45. Classified-board addresses are less often verified, which is why the main figures leave them out.

The queries and results are in our code repository under scripts/analysis/sf-apartment-size-2026.

San Francisco apartment size FAQ

What is the average apartment size in San Francisco?

It depends on the bedroom count. In ads first seen April 4 to October 12, 2026, the median San Francisco studio listed 450 sq ft, a one-bedroom 667 sq ft, a two-bedroom 1,026 sq ft and a three-bedroom 1,464 sq ft. That covers 5,421 of 9,139 apartments (59.3%) whose ad stated a usable size.

How many square feet is a 1 bedroom apartment in San Francisco?

The median San Francisco one-bedroom ad listed 667 sq ft, and half were between 579 and 761 sq ft. That is from 2,124 one-bedroom ads that stated a size, first seen April 4 to October 12, 2026. One-bedrooms in pre-1979 apartment buildings had a median of 636 sq ft.

How big is a studio apartment in San Francisco?

The median San Francisco studio ad listed 450 sq ft, and half were between 375 and 506 sq ft (1,183 studio ads with a size, April 4 to October 12, 2026). Studios in pre-1979 apartment buildings had a median of 402 sq ft, and those in buildings from 1979 or later 472 sq ft.

What is rent per square foot in San Francisco?

The median San Francisco apartment ad asked $6.66 per square foot a month, from 5,421 ads with a size first seen April 4 to October 12, 2026. Studios asked $7.68 per sq ft, one-bedrooms $6.89, two-bedrooms $6.14 and three-bedrooms $5.32.

Which San Francisco neighborhood has the cheapest rent per square foot?

Of the 26 neighborhoods with at least 30 ads that stated a size, Lakeshore had the lowest median at $3.68 per sq ft a month (116 ads), then Bayview/Hunters Point at $3.76 (45 ads). Chinatown ($8.66) and the Financial District ($8.40) had the highest.

How much space can I rent for $4,000 in San Francisco?

At $4,000 a month, 77.4% of studio ads and 35.6% of one-bedroom ads asked that or less, in ads first seen April 4 to October 12, 2026. The one-bedrooms within $4,000 had a median of 616 sq ft. Only 9.8% of two-bedroom ads were within $4,000.

Are rent-controlled apartments in San Francisco smaller?

In our data, yes. One-bedrooms in pre-1979 apartment buildings, the group most San Francisco rent control covers, had a median of 636 sq ft, against 694 sq ft in buildings from 1979 or later. Two-bedrooms were 942 against 1,075 sq ft. The groups differ in location, so this is a comparison of ads, not a cause.

Are apartments bigger in Oakland than in San Francisco?

Slightly. A one-bedroom ad in Oakland listed a median of 678 sq ft at $4.10 per sq ft a month, against 667 sq ft at $6.89 in San Francisco (ads first seen April 4 to October 12, 2026). San Jose one-bedrooms were 737 sq ft at $4.24 per sq ft.

Get alerts for San Francisco apartments in your budget

RentReboot watches 100+ Bay Area rental sources and emails you new apartments that match your budget, size and neighborhoods, and flags likely rent-controlled buildings where building records allow. We try to filter out likely scams, but always view the apartment and check the lease before you pay. Set up San Francisco rental alerts.

More San Francisco rent data

• What Does $3,000 Rent You in San Francisco?
• How Many San Francisco Apartments Allow Pets?
• How Big Is the Average NYC Apartment?
• How Big Is the Average Flat to Rent in London?
• All rent data reports
• Average rent in San Francisco by neighborhood
• What Does It Cost to Rent in the Bay Area in 2026?
• How Many SF Apartments for Rent Are Rent Controlled?
• Is My San Francisco Apartment Rent Controlled?
• Moving to San Francisco: finding an apartment from out of state

Sources

1. RentReboot listing data, read on October 15, 2026 (see "How we measured San Francisco apartment sizes").
2. San Francisco Assessor-Recorder: Historical Secured Property Tax Rolls (DataSF): year built, number of units and property class for each parcel, roll year 2025, read October 15, 2026.