The future of coworking is looking up

Editor’s note: Danielle Commisso is a content marketing writer for CivicScience, a consumer intelligence research platform. This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared under the title, “Co-Working Stays the Course, but WFH Still Wins.”

Coworking spaces have popped up in cities all over the world within the last decade, from large chains such as WeWork to independent locally owned companies. Has the pandemic taken the steam out of the growth of these nontraditional workplaces in the U.S.?

A CivicScience survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults shows that coworking is still intact – and interest in the trend may be on the up-and-up. Currently, 3% of the general population rents or holds a membership at a coworking space, while 8% express interest in possibly joining one in the future.

Graph showing that most people have never heard of a co-working space.

That said, 6% – twice that of current renters – previously used to rent at a coworking space but no longer do. While coworking isn’t for everyone, seismic shifts in the labor force in the last two years (including job losses and record numbers of retirements) as well as COVID-19 concerns most likely account for this drop-off. When crossed with employment status, unsurprisingly, data show retirees and the unemployed are the most likely to have quit coworking space membership in the past.

At the same time, workforce disruptions may benefit coworking. Among current renters, more than 40% say they transitioned to working remotely as a result of COVID-19. Some of these remote workers may have joined a coworking space as an alternative to working from home.

Graph showing the COVID-19 job impact compared with a co-working experience

Coworking keeps a strong base

There’s a one-in-two chance that someone working at a coworking space is a business owner. Among survey respondents, around 50% of current and previous coworking space members own or operate their own business. The flexible rent agreements and office amenities that are typical of the coworking model may be particularly attractive to business owners during uncertain times, as some have suggested.

A graph illustrating the comparison of owning or operating your own business with having a co-working experience.

Coworking members are also significantly more likely to fall within the 18-34 age range. In fact, the entire industry appears to be dominated by Millennial and Gen Z generations. Gen Z, in particular, are the most open to coworking; close to 10% are current members, while 20% have prior experience renting at a coworking space and one-quarter are interested in it. Coworking could have a bright future ahead of it.

Graph showing experiences of renting a co-working space by age.

Work-from-home is here to stay

For now, coworking ranks dead last when it comes to workspace preference and is far overshadowed by the nearly 20% of respondents who prefer working at home out of a home office. And while more U.S. employees still prefer to make the commute into “the office,” that may be well on its way out, even in a post-pandemic world. Looking back five years before working remotely was commonplace shows that preference to work at an employer-run office space, whether traditional or other, fell from 50% in 2017 to 35% today.

Graph comparing 2017 to 2022 in preferences for work spaces.

While COVID-19 certainly may have slowed things down for coworking, preference among American workers remains steady since 2017, hovering around 5% and with room to grow. Coworking spaces are poised to leverage young workers interested in the coworking model, especially as they enter or return to the workforce.