California’s Big Cities Offer Tiniest Apartments for $1,500 Monthly Rent

They start out with a monthly rent budget of $1,500. “In one city, it unlocks the door to a spacious 1,400-square-foot apartment. In another, it barely buys you a 200-square-foot micro-unit,” RentCafe says.

200 square feet – imagine one of those itsy-bitsy apartments featured at Ikea…

In California RentCafe found:

• San Francisco, for instance, $1,500 secures you 334 square feet (the least amount of space), enough only for a studio or a tinier 1-bedroom apartment.

• “For the roomiest apartments on this budget, look for Bakersfield where you can get 878 square feet for $1,500. This city offers significantly more room compared to others in California. Here, you can get as much as 2 bedrooms for this sum.”

The Central Valley region offers more spacious apartments away from the coast, they report. 

• Fresno: 854 square feet for $1,500.

• Visalia: 828 square feet

• Modesto: 705 square feet

RentCafe breaks down by 100 large cities and 100 small cities.

Small California cities include:

• Sunnyvale: 406 square feet for $1,500, and ranks #100 apartment size for $1,500 per month in 100 Small U.S. Cities.

• Pasadena: Renters can expect approximately 427 square feet for $1,500.

• Stockton: 727 square feet

• Fresno: 854 square feet

For those considering major hubs in California, this is how much space you can get for $1,500:

• Los Angeles: 439 square feet for $1,500.

• San Diego: 442 square feet

• San Jose: 440 square feet

• San Francisco: 334 square feet for $1,500, and ranks #97 apartment size for $1,500 per month in 100 Large U.S. Cities.

The first small California city in the lineup is Visalia at 828 square feet for $1,500.

The first large California city in the lineup is Bakersfield is 878 square feet for $1,500, which is actually larger than the average Bakersfield apartment size of 856 square feet for $1,462.

RentCafe reported that California had 16 cities among the top 20 small towns offering the least apartment space, including Fullerton, Oceanside and Oxnard, all of which offer renters around 500 square feet for a monthly budget of $1,500.