• The national operator base grew from 3,729 to 4,338 unique operators, a net gain of 609 new entrants in a single year.
• Nationwide, coworking space locations increase by 15%, 1,197 net new locations added by the beginning of 2026 compared to 2025, with over 22.5 million square feet added to the market.
• Los Angeles added 50 new coworking locations, reaching 343 total, a 17% increase from 2025.
• Jacksonville added over 241,000 square feet of coworking space, an increase of 43%, the highest in the nation.
• Richmond-Tidewater increased its coworking location count by 34% at the beginning of 2026.
• The share of coworking space from total office inventory rose from 2% in 2025 to 2.2% at the start of 2026.

For years, coworking was framed as a workplace experiment, a flexible alternative to the traditional office. At the beginning of 2026, it looks much more like infrastructure. What began as a solution for startups and freelancers is now embedded in how enterprises, remote teams and growing businesses plan their real estate strategy. The conversation has shifted from “Should we use coworking?” to “How much flexible space do we need?”. And the numbers reflect that change.

The U.S. coworking sector crossed a significant threshold between January 2025 and January 2026. The national footprint expanded to 8,973 locations, up from 7,776, representing a 15% increase in site count and a 16% gain in total square footage, which climbed past 161 million square feet. But the more telling story isn’t the headline growth; it’s how and where that growth took shape, and what the data reveals about the sector’s structural evolution. Far from a uniform expansion, the data shows a market in transition: established brands optimizing portfolios, new entrants scaling rapidly and secondary metros outpacing traditional gateway cities in both location growth and market penetration.

Major Markets Across the U.S. Surpass 200 Coworking Locations

Coworking expansion at the start of 2026 was led by a mix of established gateway cities and high-growth Sun Belt metros. Los Angeles added 50 new locations, reaching 343 total, a 17% increase year over year, while expanding its footprint by more than one million square feet. Chicago recorded the largest location gain among the top markets, adding 64 locations, a 24% increase, alongside a 27% surge in square footage, totaling more than 1.95 million additional square feet. This increase was fueled by 40 new unique operators entering the Chicago coworking market, the highest new operator count of any metro in the country.

In Dallas-Fort Worth, coworking operators grew by 45 locations and 1.53 million square feet, signaling continued momentum across North Texas. The 36 new operators pushed the total of unique operators to 168, the highest among the markets analyzed, reflecting both strong demand and relatively accessible expansion conditions. Washington, D.C. followed with 28 new locations and nearly 904,000 square feet of additional space, underscoring steady demand in the nation’s capital. Growth was equally notable in dense urban cores and innovation-driven markets. Manhattan remained the largest market by total square footage at more than 12.4 million square feet, adding 31 locations, an 11% growth, and nearly 925,000 square feet.

Atlanta expanded by 47 locations and just over one million square feet, with the help of 29 new operators, while Boston posted one of the fastest growth rates in the top 10, increasing by 52 locations, a 25% increase, and 1.1 million square feet. Twenty-six new operators joined the Beantown coworking scene, having a total of 137 unique operators in the area at the start of 2026.

Fastest Growing Coworking Markets

Richmond-Tidewater led the nation with a striking 34% jump in coworking location, adding 20 new locations and more than 300,000 square feet. The increase was supported by 11 new operators joining the market. Jacksonville kept the pace in location growth, climbing 31% with 15 new spaces, 4 of which are owned by brand new operators, while its coworking footprint expanded by nearly 242,000 square feet, a 43% expansion, the largest in the nation. That’s roughly the equivalent of 10 full-floor coworking operations opening simultaneously in a mid-size metro that, just two years ago, barely registered on the national flex-space map. On the western side the map, Central Valley posted a 29% gain in shared space locations, with 12 new locations that opened over the past year. Here, seven new operators opened up coworking spaces in the tech hub over the past year. Not far behind, Southwest Florida Coast followed with a 26% increase, bringing 11 fresh locations and 8 new operators to the market and over 167,000 square feet of new coworking space. St. Louis rounded out the top tier with 18 new locations, an increase of 25% year over year. Eight of the 18 locations opened up here are owned by new operators joining the St. Louis coworking market.

Coworking Penetration in Markets Across the U.S.

National coworking penetration, measured as shared space’s percentage of total office inventory, rose from 2% to 2.2% year over year, meaning roughly 1 in every 45 square feet of U.S. office space is now flexible. But the national average masks dramatic variation at the metro level. Southwest Florida Coast led all markets with a 71 basis point increase, pushing its share from 2.6% to 3.3% in the beginning of 2026, well above the national figure. Jacksonville and San Antonio followed closely, gaining 65bps and 59bps, respectively, though from very different starting points: Jacksonville climbed from 1.6% to 2.2%, while San Antonio moved from 1.3% to 1.9%, reflecting the growing appeal of flexible space in both mid-size and major metros alike. The share of coworking spaces in Chicago went from 2.2% to 2.7% over the last year, a significant 56bps increase, with St. Louis following closely being with an increase of 52bps. Florida continued to stand out as a hotbed for coworking adoption, with Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater reaching 2.5% and West Palm Beach–Boca Raton rising to 2.9%, each up around half a percentage point year over year. Dallas–Fort Worth posted an identical 0.52 percentage point gain as St. Louis and Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater, while Las Vegas, with a 49bps increase reached a shared space share of 3.5%, the highest penetration rate on this list, signaling that the demand for shared space is not confined to coastal or Sun Belt markets but is steadily broadening across a diverse range of regions.

Operator Landscape: Growth and Consolidation

The national operator base grew from 3,729 to 4,338 unique operators, a net gain of 609 new entrants in a single year. This influx is a critical health indicator, with entrepreneurial capital continuing to see opportunity in flexible workspace and the largest incumbents refining their strategies. The largest operators by location count continued to grow, with some adding more than 100 new sites nationally while expanding square footage at a comparable pace.

The largest operator in the nation reached 1,210 locations at the start of 2026, with a net gain of 164 sites (16%) since the same time in 2025. Others held their location counts steady or modestly contracted, shedding marginal square footage, giving a signal of deliberate portfolio curation rather than retreat. Together, these shifts indicate that while large, established brands are still driving overall expansion, the beginning of 2026 also reflected a more selective and strategic approach to growth, with some operators prioritizing optimization and efficiency over rapid market entry.

“To me, 2025 represents progress for the industry. Progress with thoughtful, consistent growth, and progress in educating individuals, occupiers and tenants of the benefits that coworking and serviced office space provide.” Peter Kolaczynski, Director, Yardi Research

What the Average Location Size Reveals

The average square footage per coworking location offers a revealing lens into how different markets are evolving. Manhattan is the only market in the dataset where average location size declined while remaining in the large flagship tier – suggesting selective pruning of smaller sites or floor-plate reductions in existing locations. It towers above the rest at 40,972 square feet per location, despite a slight drop of 2.6% year over year. Chicago saw modest but meaningful growth in average location size, up 3.5%, suggesting that newer, larger-format spaces are entering the market and pulling the average upward.

One of the most dramatic shifts, however, belonged to Orange County where average location size surged 18.5% to nearly 24,000 square feet, reinforcing its position as one of the most aggressively expanding large-format markets. On the other end of the spectrum, the Bay Area experienced decline in average location size, down by 3.5%, hinting at either the closure of larger spaces or an influx of smaller, more boutique operations. Boston and St. Louis, meanwhile, held firm with negligible changes, indicating mature markets where the prevailing large-format model has found its footing and remains largely intact.

What This Means for the Market Ahead

Taken together, the data paints a clear picture: coworking is no longer a niche segment of the office market but rather an established and expanding part of the commercial real estate ecosystem. Growth at the beginning of 2026 was broad-based, spanning major gateway cities, high-growth Sun Belt metros, global brands and emerging boutique operators alike. Locations increased, square footage expanded and new operators entered the field, all pointing to sustained demand for flexible workspace solutions. Whether driven by enterprise hybrid strategies, entrepreneurial growth or companies seeking agility in uncertain markets, coworking space is evolving from an alternative option into core workplace infrastructure and the pace of expansion suggests that momentum is far from slowing.

Methodology

• To compile this report, we used proprietary data from CoworkingCafe to determine the number of coworking spaces per market, as well as the total square footage and leading operators.
• The study relied solely on the listing data available on CoworkingCafe as of January 2026.
• The top 50 markets analyzed were established by our sister company Yardi Matrix and were ranked based on allocated square footage.
• Not to be outdone, VAST Coworking (spanning Intelligent Office, Venture X and Office Evolution) also expanded, adding nine new spaces to reach 184 locations nationwide in 2026, compared to 175 at the beginning of 2025.

The table with data on all 50 markets analyzed in this study can be found below. The markets are listed in descending order based on the total number of coworking locations at the beginning of 2026.