Wow. I think of our home (1600 sf, four humans) as small relative to the typical, but it's still big compared to Europe sizes. Makes me think about downsizing.

only 1700 sf, but it works for us.

650 sf but it's filled with natural light which makes it much bigger.

About 2400 including the finished (walkout) basement. A bit bigger than we were even planning while looking for a house, but the house really worked for us and we loved it (and the price was right). Sometimes I feel guilty about it, but I still love the house.

Interesting! We have 1200 square feet for a family of four. It's just big enough. I'm trying-- and failing-- to imagine cramming all of us into a 818 sq ft space. (Maybe if it were a loft with 16' ceilings so we could store things up high?)

I suppose if I could expand it in any way, I'd make our (dry, high-ceiling) basement bigger, to make more room for both a decent workshop and a family room.

Approximately 1400 square foot rowhouse in Alexandria, VA, if you factor in finished (though badly in need of an update) basement space. Works for us - 2 people. I downsized from a much larger rowhouse in DC, because I found that a few of the rooms were being unused.

Well the survey seems to be a little bit dodgy. Apparently they only took homes into account in London or within one hour of the British Capital. I think it seems quite logical, that the average British new house would be a little bit bigger than the average British house in London or within one hour of London, don't you think?

I think it's gross how much bigger Americans "Have" to have our houses than most of the rest of the world! It kills me when the non-designed McMansions keep popping up in suburbs all over, and they have 2 living rooms, a den, a kitchen big enough for a hotel restaurant, and 18 bathrooms...really?!?!?!?

We have two people in 1800 square feet. It's a challenge to use every room every day, though they do all see action throughout the week... Sometimes I miss my 425 sf apartment, but there was no room for my chair collection there...

I grew up in England in a much smaller house than the 80 yr old tudor I now live in (almost 3000 sq.ft a block outside of Philadelphia). The UK size comes from newer homes built in London or within an hours drive of London. Outside of London they build them bigger!

we have 940 sf for 4 of us and there isn't enough storage space, but otherwise we are happy. we need an attic or basement, or garage or something :)

just over 400sf - in 4 stories!

My little Craftsman is right at 1000 sf. I notice that they use new construction for the stats; I wonder what it would be if they factored in existing houses.

At max capacity, we had two adults and an almost adult (17 year old) plus two large dogs. Yeah, it felt crowded, but it was affordable and is almost too large now that I'm a widowed empty nester.

1488 sq. ft. 1951 brick colonial (not including the unfinished basement) in Baltimore. I think my roommate wishes I bought a bigger house with a second bath on the second level. However, it's good enough for all of my upholstery and sewing projects, so it's good enough for me!

600 sq ft for myself and 3 cats

'Since 2003'
Does anyone have average home sizes overall. Americans have been building large since the 90's. I would think that we have a bloat in the last 30 years. With much more construction here than the UK, it would be much more new space. The UK doesn't have near the land mass the US does. Less room to expand.

So, this seems to correlate really well with population density, no?

people note that we've been building large (and building mcmansions) in the last 20 or so years, but most US cities also have a housing stock of giant old ramblers from 75-100 years ago. that's what i have - a 2500 square foot american foursquare from the mid '20s. it's a beast to clean but my husband and i do like having our own offices in addition to a guest room.

My family of 4 (plus a cat) live in 1340 sf (built in 1930). It's tight for us since we mostly have large personalities & tall heights. But we make it work. Having a cellar, garage & attic help tremendously. I would love about 1800 sf in the form of a bigger dining room, a den, a 2nd full bathroom & a guest room. Maybe someday. Probably not & I'm ok with that. Smaller living means faster cleaning.

Newly built houses in London (or 1 hour outside) are so tiny it's a joke. My boyfriend and I have been looking to buy one but it means that all we could fit in a bedroom would be a double bed... and it would be touching 3 walls. An "open-plan living space" simply means that they got rid of the kitchen (stove, washer, 2 cabinets and a sink) and put it along a wall in the already tiny living room. No room for a table and chairs if you have a couch and a chair... So now we are waiting til we can afford to buy a flat built before 2000...

Thanks for the conversion from metric. I think other commenters make good points about taking the numbers with a grain of salt. Any way, mine's about 1,350 sf for two adults and two dogs.

we have just over 900 for 2 adults, one kid, and an 80 lb dog. We feel squeezed sometimes but are glad not to pay utilities on something much larger. I don't really understand the backlash at "bigger american houses" with all their stuff. We do have more space than most European countries to spread out... and "mcmansions" exist in most developed countries...

I think the real surprise here is that homes in Denmark are so big-- generally it looks like the average size of homes for each country correlates with their population density.

I live in a 266 sq foot studio. Feels a bit snug sometimes, but you'd be amazed at how roomy it feels with a little creative organizing.

I live in 600 sqft... with my husband and 3.5 year old. Its way to small for us, its just a studio so were always fighting for space. we are hoping to upgrade to a smaller home around 1200 sqft very soon

1,706 sqft for 2 adults and 2 dogs. No basement or attic, just a 1-car garage. But it feels larger because of cathedral ceilings, our minimal style, and nice deck with views of a fenced-in yard. So thankful for our little house.

960sf craftsman for 2 people, 2 cats and 1 dog. Our storage space for anything is extremely limited. However, I *love* living light. I find that liberating. The only downside is that we have very little room to entertain. We max out at 8 guests.

I have about 800 sq feet in the southern US, currently occupied by two adults and one cat. It's a loft and the perfect size for us, but storage is a huge issue!

I live alone in a 1600 square foot two bedroom apartment in a high rise building. This came after 16 years in a 700 sqft one bedroom, and 5 years in a 900 sqft two bedroom. As far as I'm concerned, abundant space is fantastic to have, embrace it, enjoy it and feel fortunate. And yes, I use every inch of the space every day.

We're renting a 1000 square foot 1 bed/1.5 bath. Fiance, me, cat, dog. I mostly just want more space so I have an excuse to buy more furniture.

1200 sq ft bungalow for 2 adults. But we're looking for a house that's slightly bigger (larger kitchen and living room, preferably) so we'll have even more room to entertain.

1000 sf for 2 adults & 2 dogs, PLUS a ginormous detached workshop that houses my gardening stuff and my husband's tools, work table, saws, and assorted boxes of stuff, including boxes of books that can't be unpacked until we have something to unpack them into. Although we have cleared out the workshop 2x since 2008, we have more clearing out to do. (Why does he keep 2 crates of LPS but exhort me to digitize all my CDs? ) Our house is laid out strangely, and we'd both like our own office, and our own bedroom, so 3 bedrooms doesn't quite suit us.

My apartment is way too big and I already know it! That's interesting to know though

The average size of newer construction across the U.S. compared to homes within an hour of London?
Apples and oranges. Totally useless information, even for entertainment purposes.

1500 sf for 2 empty-nesters and a high-energy dog. Lots of room except for Thanksgiving and Christmas, when it's "the more, the merrier".

Two adults and one cat in about 750 square feet. My only real space complaint is that I long for a bigger kitchen, but generally we're pretty happy with what we have!

Approx. 1400 w/out basement; 1800 w/basement; 2 ppl, 1 dog, 2 cats, plenty of room

I have a 946sf condo for myself and a cat. Big yes, but I got the place for a song and my electric bills are about $60/month. In the wintertime it's even better as I never turn on my heater. Sweet!

1800, and we think it's too large.

Two humans & 2 cats share just under 1400 sq ft in our home. I rarely use 1/2 of the house. Seriously considering a downsize.

We have a 1920s bungalow that has about 1200 sq. feet - but that doesn't include the unfinished basement or attic, so we have tons of storage (and room for a washer and dryer in the basement).

It is a perfect size, I think for our family of 4 + 1 fur person.

*First AT post!!* :) My husband and I are in a 1280sf home and its nice and comfy for us. Only complaint: since it's just the two of us, I would much rather eliminate one of the three tiny bedrooms and add that sqare footage to the closets and master bath. Most of the time the AMOUNT of space you have is not the issue, it's how the space is used. *Sigh* Wishing Mississippi had open/loft style housing options....

We (two adults) live a freakishly large (1500 sf) vintage high rise one bedroom. At times I feel a bit guilty as others have said, but it suits us. We can seat 12 at dinner and have had 40 for cocktails. Strangely, it is on a day to day basis when we might want to get a little away from each other that it seems tight. We really have no "away room".

2 adults and 3 little girls in a 2,900 square foot monstrosity. It's too large for us.

I'm about to move into an 850 sq ft one bedroom apartment and it seems just about right for just me. I'm psyched to finally room for a real dining room table and a laundry room, but every time I type it, it seems huge to me. Currently I'm in about 600 sq ft and I think the biggest problem is how the space is set up. I'd rather half the bedroom and have a dining room.

We have a large house (not a new one) - maybe 3500 sf - in the US and a small flat in the UK- more like 600sf.

We prefer living smaller, though I wish I had one more small room in the UK, for guests. Funnily enough, I think the amount of space we actually use everyday in the US is probably not much bigger than the flat.

When the market is bouyant again, we'll probably sell, but we love our yard, neighbors and neighborhood and it's hard to leave them.

I wish we could just tear it down and build something smaller and more earth friendly in the same spot.

2100 sq ft and too much to clean! It would be interesting to figure in Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Pacific Islands etc, into that "around the world" configuration. After all lots of design inspirations hail from way ovah there.

I went from a 450 sq ft, 2-bdrm (yes 2!) apartment to a 1200 sq ft, 3-bdrm house with partially finished basement. I feel like I'm living in the lap of luxury. The only room that is only partially used is our 80 sq ft guest room - but we have very happy guests!

The house we own is a 1925 Craftsman that's about 1500 sq ft, not including the unfinished basement. Because we both got jobs about 1:45 away, we rented that out, and now rent a 1850's Georgian that's about 2800 sq ft. With just 2 adults and 2 65 lb. dogs, that's just too big, but the rent was right and the yard was big (important for the high energy pups). We're currently looking to buy something around the 1750-2000 sq ft range, because we'd like to have kids soon. We're in the country, so I certainly don't feel bad about it.

That explains why half the 'small' cool kitchens looked pretty big to me!

Like hikatie, I too have a 1920s American foursquare. It's a little under 3000 sq ft and far too large for my family of four. Aside from being too large, everything else was perfect (including being in the middle of down town on a double lot). We solved the too large for us problem by letting a friend move in to one of the extra rooms. We have help renovating the house and he has a cheap room to live in and a beautiful house he doesn't have to pay to furnish. It works.

I notice that northerners often don't count their basements, attics, and garages in their homes' square footage. I have none of those areas, but don't begrudge them since northerners need twice the space to store possessions used to deal with seasonal extremes.

1700 sq ft. It seems huge for just my husband and myself.

there are 2 of us in a 4,000 sq ft renovated church. for six years, i lived in a 400 sq ft house. it's funny... my bedroom now is bigger than my previous house. after being cramped for so long, i love that i can stretch out... and i love hosting shows in the basement & having the print studio at home.

I think Sweden is about the same as Denmark, but Norwegians typically have larger houses - closer to Australian sizes.

I am very happy in my four-storey 3200 sq. foot home that was built in 1872. The top floor is reserved for guests, and I use the rest of the house (which is really basically two big rooms on each floor, and makes it seem less big).

I lived in England for four years in the late 80s, early 90s and when I came back to the US for the first time, I thought that everything seemed HUGE, including the 900 sf ranch I grew up in. Now when I see that same 900 sf ranch, I think it looks like a dollhouse after being in my large and airy Victorian for a decade.

i'm at 1650sqft, but my house was built in 1960's.
These figures are crap, plain and simple, the article says nothing about anything other than the average size of a newly built London area home. The author of the BBC article did not even bother to elaborate on the particulars of the data from outside of the UK.
London homes are small compared to the rest of the UK, just like average size of homes in NYC and 1 hour away would average smaller than the entire country overall. So what cities have they based their data on in the US, Denmark, etc.
Very poorly done.

740sq ft ranch for 2 people and 3 cats, but that doesn't include a large basement (half of which is finished) and an attic. Storage space is not an issue.

I used to feel more cramped until starting a massive declutter. Now that I've gotten rid of the crap I don't use (well most of it) it feels like plenty of room.

Miami's Elaine - The reason most northerners don't count unfinished attics, basements, etc. in total square footage is probably the same reason I dont. These spaces aren't counted on the official property report for sale and tax purposes unless they're finished and certain guidelines are met.

Being from the UK, what I've noticed about American vs. English houses are that English houses tend to have small bedrooms and larger living areas, whereas American houses often have very large bedrooms and the living areas aren't quite as large.

That said, I live in a flat in the US with my significant other and our young daughter which is roughly 900 square feet and it feels massive- whereas most people think it's impossibly small.

Totally happy in a 1120 square foot place for two people, a cat and a dog. It also includes a painting studio.

Surprised by the size of the Danish homes.

I wonder why the variation, though. Is it population density? Customer expectations? Tradition? It would be interesting to compare house sizes to a similar chart of population density. For the record, I have a 1200 sq ft townhouse.

I have 696 sq ft, soon to be 796 when the deck remodel is done for one adullt and one cat. This is fudging a bit as there will be 340 sq ft unheated sun porches (screens & windows) where the rest of the old decks were. Also There is an outbuilding we called the shop, but that is in name only. It is really garden and tool and scooter etc storage. Can't have a yard or garden without tools and junk.

865 sq ft for three adult humans and five cats.

We're seriously thinking about getting a place that's a little bigger next time - probably something around 1500 sq ft.

I prefer to have SPACE between my furnishings, and this place doesn't really allow for that. Still, it works and it's served us well for the last seven years!

Our 1929 bungalow has 1500 sq feet that is finished, and then a 1000 sq foot unfinished basement and a one car garage that houses all our gardening/outdoor stuff. There are two of us and 4 indoor cats, so having the basement is nice for litter and such. We also have huge closets original to the house--surprising for a house this age. While we use all the space just about every day (we both work in large part from home so have home offices and made one of the bedrooms our tv room), we could go from a 4-2 to a 2-2 pretty easily, assuming we had a basement or other dedicated storage space (after 10 years living in a part of the country that didn't have houses with basements, I really am glad we are back in basement territory).

The McMansion image as a typical American Home is stuff and nonsense. It's like saying the typical Japanese woman is a geisha. Look around your neighborhoods, or crane your neck as you commute to work. Heck, just look at the responses posted right here. New Yorkers in apartments, rural Ohio folks in cute or crappy farmhouses. In terms of averages, cavernous homes cannot be the majority. My home was built in the fifties, and its about 1600sf (poorly planned, tsk). The McMansion is what you see in magazines. And I love ya AT, but sometimes you'll have for example, bathroom design posts, that make it look like an upscale roman bath house. Sure there are lots in some of the pricier neighborhoods. But people need to stop putting it up as a so-called standard of living that Americans are supposedly seeking. Which Americans? (and who wants to clean that much house, honestly?!)

6 in 660 sq ft! 2 adults and 4 kiddos (ages 12, 9, 3 and 3 months) After 12 years of living in a 600 sq ft house we upgraded last September. It's amazing how much extra space 60 feet has bought us. We use every inch of space everyday!

We are 2 adults 1 kiddo and 1 on the way and a great dane in 950sf. It's not too bad - we certainly don't keep a lot of clutter since we don't have any additional storage place and only 2 closets total (and no, they are not walk-in closets, just regular ones.) Some day we hope to get a touch more space, but for now (and this housing market!) we're staying put :)

2 adults, 1 cat in 1385 sq ft. And it is waaaaay too much space for us. If we can ever unload this house, our next place will probably be in the 600-800 sq ft range.

Two adults and two children in about 600 square feet. We live in the US. I could really do with another 200 square feet or so, and at least another closet. Our current house has only one (regular sized) closet and it's a big challenge to fit everything in.

@Candice, I didn't know that unfinished square footage in homes doesn't count officially, so thanks for explaining it to me.

I live in a 950 sf Victorian apartment which is huuuge for a single person in Germany. But it includes my workshop for art conservation so. *shrugs*

But I have mentioned here some time again that often places that would be considered huge in many European countries are called small or even tiny on AT and some Americans on here were not amused. Well, there you go, you guys ARE maglomaniancs. ;D

People I know with McMansions don't clean them, they hire a service. So if living in a house that big, then the budget is big enough for a maid!

I share 746 sq ft with my husband and dog. I was worried when we moved in (only 3 closets!) but it forced me to separate our necessities from the junk that just moved from one place to the next. I'm happy with it :)

2 adults in a 715 sq ft rented terrace in the UK, and we only really use the front 140 sq ft bedroom as a laundry room. Feels absolutely massive compared to the 250ish studio I used to rent in Chicago a couple years ago (for about the same price).

530 sq. feet for me and a small-medium dog. Honestly, I wouldn't mind more space, but I'd just use it as an excuse to buy more furniture, so I probably don't really need it.

These statistics are bogus. They tell you what the the average newly constructed size home is but not what percentage of people actually live in such constructions.

we have 1000 sq. ft. for our family of 4. 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, and we couldn't be happier. you really don't need as much as you think you do!

We have a 1400 square foot condo (plus a small garage) for two adults and two cats. We could get by with less, but I thought it was important that I have my own sewing room/office and he has his own office. I'm not going to claim my sewing room is pristine, but he is messier than I will EVER be!

800 sqft for two adults (one of whom is a musician with lots of gear), 2 kids and 1 cat. We are perfectly happy with the place just don't like living in the city. We are shooting for living in the country in a yurt soon - the small size doesn't intimidate us in the least , we've gotten pretty good at maximizing our space

No way is it related to population density. Australian and American houses are about the same, the two countries have about the same area (if you exclude Alaska)... the US has a population of about 310m, Australia has a population of about 22m. They're not even remotely comparable.

I wonder what it is? I'd be happy with quite a small space, myself.

I'm definitely one of the smaller ones here: 272 square feet. It's just me, but I've found a way to make a studio space into four separate rooms... I could easily fit two more people into the apartment. Honestly, I couldn't live in a massive house. I've been inside one of the mansions owned by a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills, and it's just overwhelming. You just feel dwarfed by the space, and everything has to be supersized to not feel too airy. Give me a space with less than 1000 square feet and I'll be great.

3600sf in a newly built house in a northern suburb of Dallas. It's well-designed, so it all gets use, but it does often feel like "too much." We may be relocating, and I would not go looking for one this big. That said, I am really thankful for it and have enjoyed it these past two years. It has beautiful natural light and an excellent kitchen. I don't live in an apartment or a small space, but I love AT for the design principles and philosophy.

Our current house is 2100 sq.ft. for two adults and three large dogs. We still have plenty of room to grow our family. While I could certainly live happily in a smaller house, I cannot imagine living in a tiny less-than-500 sq. ft. apartment without going mad. I don't think I could adapt.

Interesting reading. We are renting a 1250sf house in TX for family of 4. Before we had 1700 ft which was a nice amount of space, although I wouldn't mind 2000.

I agree with a bunch of the commentors who said that it's not just the size of the house it's how the space is divided. Our last house was just under 1300 sq ft and although the master was huge the combo living/dining room was too small for more than about 6 people. One of the three bedrooms was also a loft which was fine as a library/office but not so great when we were looking at having to turn it into a playroom if we were going to stay.

We wound up selling and our new house is more than twice as large (3050 sq ft) if you include the finished (half English) basement which is where we spend a lot of time as it houses the playroom and TV room. It feels huge right now but we're planning on having 4 kids (#2 is on the way right now) and since my husband is 6'4 I imagine it will feel pretty tiny with with 4 huge teenagers running around. Mostly though we were able to find a house that fits the way we want to live. The bedrooms are smaller but still big enough (our kids will share) and the living areas are spacious enough to comfortably entertain our large group of friends (not to mention our enormous families). We also choose to prioritize square footage over a huge plot of land and privacy and decided to stay in a townhouse. It was actually kind of ridiculous how much more house we could get for the money with a townhouse (even a corner end unit) instead of a single family home.

983 sq. ft. for two adults and two tweens. One bathroom. No basement, no garage.

Storage isn't really an issue because there are a lot of built-ins; the problem is that if ONE thing is out of place, it looks like a huge mess. Entertaining is an issue in the summer, when it's too hot to go outside; otherwise, the yard can host lots of people.

It's been fun to read about the great variety in home size. It clearly takes all sizes of homes to meet the needs of the many different kinds of households. It's a change for the better that this thread didn't get torn down by rages justified as being pro-ecology against any and all larger homes.

I thought "around the world" might be more diverse (not so Euro/developed world-centric). I'm curious about square footage across the Americas, in Asia, Africa or the Middle East. Homes in the US might be smaller compared to other areas.

We recently bought a 1000 sq ft house (in coastal Southern California, where it's not about the square footage, it's about the proximity to the beach!). Up to that point, we lived (closer to the beach) in 700 square feet; two adults, two little boys. So 1000 square feet--with front & back yards, and a garage--feels enormous!

We live in a duplex from the 1920s in the Los Angeles. Each floor is 2200 sq feet built as middle class housing post-war. It does feel airy and spacious now (after living in 1700 sq ft that was badly designed), even with two kids moving at the speed of light.

1200sq ft for 3 humans and 2 cats, and I feel lik we could downsize no problem. DH doesn't agree though. We are wanting to move to the UK at some point in the future and I have a feeling he's in for a rude awakening when he sees house sizes across the pond.

2000 sf and I can't imagine trying to clean anything larger!

They have McMansions in England, too. A friend of mine lived in one just outside of Lincoln. Suburban sprawl - it's catching!

Two adults, three kids in 3000 sq ft in Florida. Two car garage, but no basement or attic.
Feels just right to us.

Although most new build houses are smaller than those built in the past, older houses in the UK are still nor much bigger than these figures suggest. The majority of housing within 1hour of London was built prior to WW2 and is either terraced (I think you call this a row house?!) and tiny or semi-detached. My house is a slightly larger than average 1930s-built semi and is about 100sqm (1075sq ft if my maths is any good) and seems huge compared to the Victorian terrace I lived in previously. In it we fit two adults, one toddler, two weekender teenagers and there'll be a baby in the New
Year.

1420 sq ft mid-century ranch here. It's perfect for two of us and we could probably make it work with a couple of little ones but we're hoping to add on in a few years as our family grows. We dream of adding 1000 sq ft.

We (2 adults and 3 kids) live in an old queen anne that is about 2400 sq. ft. I love the space and the ability to host large parties without feeling crowded.

1292sq ft in california. 2 adults, 1 kid, 2 dogs, and a cat and it doesn't feel small at all. feels kind of big sometimes.

ps it's a john mackay (eichler style) home.

I have an ontario cottage home.No closets to speak of.My main floor is 1600.Down stairs is finished and a little less floor space.We have two full baths and two full kitchens.I don't use it as a rental.It was before I bought it.

Technically it would have originally been a one floor,two bedroom home,without a bath.Located central to downtown commercial center of the developing city.

I would have to agree with everyone that the older the home,the smaller the living spaces traditionally would be.However,in my neighbourhood we have condo conversions in upperclass 'mc mansions' of their times.They are huge!When used as single family homes,in the 1800's, they did have servants.Many people worked for room and board at great houses.It would not have been unusual,in those times,for anyone to have servants and staff of some kind.

My own home was considered 'merchant class' in it's time.Built on the edge of a very good neighbourhood.

Less than 900 sq feet in central Singapore. It is is in one of the older buildings so the living cum dining room is really tiny whereas the bedrooms are large .... Still working on the living room.

I live in a city in the north of England, in a fairly new flat. We do not have a separate kitchen, it's just one wall of the living room. You have to choose between having a second sofa or a dining area. We have only one sofa and a dining table for 6. That's really common around here. At the moment there's just two of us but there are families with a couple of kids living in identical flats in our block. Our flat is not considered unusually small at all.

We're in the process of moving 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 large dogs, and a cat from 2800 sf to 1400 sf. We're just moving the things we love, a little bit at a time as we find the right spot for it. When the 1400 sf is "full", everything else is being sold. Love the new small house!

Watched an epidsode of "Selling L.A." where one of the real housewives of Beverly Hills was leasing (for $30,000/mo) a house that had a 1700 square feet master CLOSET. Yes, closet...

650 sq.ft. perfect square. I didn't know how we would do it when we first moved in but, I have to say, I prefer the smaller space. It forces you to be creative with your design choices and let's you "purge" your life. We had so much stuff that we didn't need. I thought a small space would be confining but, actually, it ended up being really freeing

900 sqft for just my husband, me, and a dog right now. If we have the chance to renovate or buy another house, this size would suit us just fine. However, if we have to live with someone else's designed layout, I think we would like around 1200 sqft once we have a child.

We have about 600 sf, sitting on top of a double garage. There are 5 of us, plus a lizard. It works for us, but our older boys, 8 & 10, keep having to pare down on the toys they get from grandparents. Plus the baby (6 mo) is still in our room.

2 of us (Canadians) are in 2000 sq feet total (about 1500 of that is finished, usable space). We went from 710 sq feet, so it's a big jump for us!

Would love to see the average home/apartment size for Manhattan on that chart!

1,200 sq ft in Boston. 2 adults, 1 child, 1 little dog. I'd like a hair larger with a garage and tiny yard but I'm in no hurry.
To Samantha, looking for Manhattan home sizes, I'd says it's likely on par with the UK. And that would cost $1.5 million.

We just moved from 1200 ft with 2 adults and 4 kids. we loved it once it got organized. Made the chores go quickly so we could spend our time doing the family stuff instead. Now we're living with my sister in her 3500 sq ft victorian...all we do is clean... :(

My husband, 3 small kids, a greyhound dog and I live in a split-level house built in the early 60's. Friends have asked us if we plan on moving now that we have three kids but I have no intention on doing so. I think we have about 1400 ft. of living space, a garage and a nice fenced-in backyard.

It would be really interesting to see a true American average versus "new construction since 2003", as well as how home sizes will likely shrink from 2010 through at least 2015 due to the economic downturn. I think 2003-2010 was an era of vast expansion that we will likely never see again.

We (family of 4) just recently downsized from 2400 sq ft to 1300, not counting our basement. The smaller space feels so much more cozy and homey, and we are actually using it more efficiently.

Interesting article!

The 2 of us (and dog) are living in a two story townhouse that is somewhere between 800-900 sq feet. (I'm totally guesstimating, based on a 168 sq foot living room). It's about perfect. The second bedroom/guest room, craft room, study is a little wonky but also under utilized. I know hubby would like a room of his own, but I like living in shared spaces. When we eventually buy someday, I continually say that I do not want a house with two living rooms (or a living room and "family room"), as we aren't formal and that extra space seems like too much to me.

My partner and I are currently living in a 1000sf condo with a 256sf balcony. It's a beautiful one bedroom/one bath. I have a laundry room. I hate cleaning it. Before we bought this place we lived in 625sf and it was much easier to take care of. We thought that we would be doing a lot of entertaining but other than one large party in 9 years we haven't done that much entertaining and usually go out with friends instead. I could clean the 625sf place in an hour and didn't need as much furniture to fill the space. We have asked the Real-estate agent to show us spaces in the 500 to 600sf range. I am looking forward enjoying my space more than working all the time to keep it up.

I too would like to see a comparison with historical housing. Restricted to cities/urban areas, maybe, to get apple to apple numbers.

Current house - 1500 rental, no basement, no attic.

LR full of bookcases, three bedrooms - one as office for two, one as guest room and craft supply storage, one for sleeping. Living room and dining area open to each other. Corridor kitchen with dining at one end, access to laundry/garage at the other.

Two car garage - one car, other side all rack storage for rough carpentry tools and more craft storage... admittedly, this area also stacked with stuff that I can't muster to get rid of. Damn sentimentality! (and a trace of hoarder's syndrome)

Our second car lives outside beside the garage.

Living in a box is the price you pay to live in London. Not worth it, in my opinion. So much cheaper up north.

I live in a 1600 cape cod built in 1940, along with my husband and our three children. It feels just right to me (and I even know where to stash an extra kid, should one arrive). However, I know my mother thinks it is impossibly tiny. We also briefly lived with my in-laws in their 1980s "McMansion", which held four generations (7 adults, two kids) quite comfortably.

My little 1940's house is 1000 sq ft, so I figure it belongs somewhere between Spain and Ireland. :~D I cannot imagine living in much more than this. We use every room, everyday and it is easy to maintain. It helps that the layout is excellent: the main living spaces (living room, dining nook and kitchen) are all open to each other and lined up along the south wall for maximum sun exposure. The 2 bedrooms are on the north side and separated by a little hallway that can be closed off. Two of us live here but I have had as many as 4 people living here and it was cozy, sure, but it worked. I love my little house!

1720 for three adults, 2 kids and three cats. I live in Germany and last time I had friends from the US over they told me they liked how organized small houses are. Funny thing is that the house would never be considered small over here...

Greetings from Ireland!!

Average one bed in Ireland is less that 600 sq ft, Usually occupied by a couple or single person.

Average 2 bed is less than 750 sq. foot, usually occupied by room mates (more common here than in America from what I can gather from my American husband) or a family with only one child (thinking of council flats here also).

Average 3 bedroom house (terrace, in a city) less than 1000 sq. ft, has a small family usually. I lived in one with my husband and one child, but usually it's up 3 kids, one of the bedrooms will be called a 'box room', it would be tiny and only house a 3 ft bed and small chest of drawers.

And we have our share of McMansions too, don't worry. They are however, proving a real burden to their owners because oil in Europe is twice the price of oil in the States so heating them is a killer. That's why our cars are smaller too, think about it, $8 a gallon for gas!!

The living spaces are adequate for families, it's the storage thats our problem. We have a cold damp climate so the storage of tools 'n stuff is very difficult. We don't have basements, our attics are small an not very accessable, and in cities we're less likely to have garages, so a small wooden shed is our usual answer, and these are tiny (maybe 8x10 ft?).

Finally, my family and I moved to (renovated) a 1200 sq foot house recently, three of us, more than enough living space but.... for tools, bikes, fuel (wood burning stove), gardening equipment and paints & things? The teeny shed we have just doesn't cut it. I can't get to my bike, things are just piled on top of it at the moment. As for the tools, most of them are in my husbands office. Yes, there's the challenge for us, little or no storage. Fair enough if you're renting but when you're a grown up with all the tools of house maintenance, it's impossible to have an uncluttered looking house without being hyper organised (and very few of us are).

We just downsized from a 3 BR/2000 sqft ranch (built 2007) to a 2 BR/1027 sqft cottage bungalow (built 1922). We are two adults, two large dogs. I work from home full time, so one of the bedrooms is an office/guest room. We never used several of the rooms in our old home, this new-to-us home feels just right. We are planning to finish off the walk-out basement to give us an additional bedroom/bath & family room (bringing our square footage to about 1500) once we start a family and need the extra bedroom. We also have a walk-up attic for storage, that has been nice.

We live in a small 1940s wood frame with about ~1450 square feet, though originally it would have been much smaller, since the good sized master bedroom and bathroom are an addition (before we bought it). We are two adults and a cat, hoping for a baby soon, and have no intention of moving to anything bigger!

And how many meters at Russia? 33 ?

I would like to see a version of this comparing urban areas. Our place is 282 sq. ft. Funny thing is our neighbor's place is 240 and they're a family of 4. I have no idea how that works out.

@sferik--wow! i thought posting about our approx 900 square foot place in Brooklyn (we're a family of four) was going to be shocking but your neighbor's place at 240 sq feet with 4 ppl?!
At this point (our son is 10 and daughter 13) we can definitely use a bit more space. 1,400 square feet would be great.

Our townhome is 2 stories, 900 square feet, it's perfect for us in terms of space. We being 2 adults, 2 cats and a dog. I think we could even work a baby in there eventually. I'm guessing if we move it'll be because of a lack of private yard.

@Aidenpouge, you could totally have a baby in that space. Just be smart regarding toys and yer good to go!! In fact, it's better for a child to have things to 'do' (hobbies) than own loads of plastic!!

2300 for four, plus one working at home

My whole adult life I have been on a goldilocks journey to find a house size that is just right. Our famliy size has morphed from 2 to 3 to 7 back to 2 (and on some weekend 8) Houses have ranged from 640 sq ft to 980 sq ft to 2800 sq feet to 1,800 which is just right. Large enough to entertain in or house a long term guest but not echoingly empty when its just the two of us. Its not the size but the flexibility and layout that count

I have a 1 bedroom place which is about 475 square feet, in Melbourne, Australia. To reassure myself that I would be ok in this place, I did spend a lot of time reading about Manhattan apartments!! The bonus is I do have a deck big enough to put a table on, plus a long narrow courtyard (not counted in the square feet above). I moved from a 2-bedroom, where the second room tended to just fill with junk. Having less space makes me more thoughtful about what I buy. I could have bought a 2-bedroom in the same suburb for similar money, but not such a convenient location. Where I am, I can walk to everything I need, including my work, and I value that more than an extra room. It adds up to an enormous amount of time saved from long commutes and getting stuck in weekend traffic, and I feel like it is also environmentally responsible.

1,691 sq.ft. in suburbia for 3 people + 1 cat. I don't feel guilty at all.

1100 sq ft in a Seattle suburb. 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 Greyhounds, 2 cats, and always family/friends visiting. And I work from home. We are often asked how we cope: we own less stuff, spend a lot of time outdoors, and use less energy, why would we need anything larger?

Victorian duplex, husband and I in 2500 sf, my parents in 1200 sf, plus a 1500 sf unfinished attic, full basement, two car garage, lot and a half, parking for six cars, and two beautiful 100 year old trees. For less than many HOA fees. That's the trade off for living in BFE.

Big houses are depressing and stupid, especially those new faux-English manors.

1300 sf; just me

@MAXB: "Big houses are depressing and stupid"

Perhaps you are projecting?

2 adults, 6 kids (ages 12,11,9,7,4,1), 4500 SF (if you include finished basement),north of the ATL. My cute little 4 y/o neighbor calls it "the fun house" - so not too depressing really. Loud, kind of messy, definitely a fit or two pitched everyday by one child or another. But more laughing than crying. We don't let this big house get us down.

1300 square feet, one adult, one kid, soon to be one (small) dog. It's extremely well laid out, though; virtually every square foot is usable space. I toured several larger homes while house-hunting, but a lot of that space was essentially wasted -- overlarge foyers, or too-wide hallways, or kitchens so enormous that only a restaurant chef or parents of eight kids could possibly have a real need for that much room. I liked that this house uses the space it's got. Also, I'm in a warm climate, so the backyard means that "outdoor living space" is a real thing instead of just a Pottery Barn tag line.

970 square foot condo, one adult, 2 cats, lots of books, enough space for me to feel comfortable and actually more square footage than I want to clean regularly ;)

...and I miss my much smaller apt in the city. Once, my suburban sister-in-law commented on how small that place was, and I replied something to the effect of, "How big does it need to be? I'm just one person. I can only be in one spot in the apartment at a time." I mean, hello!

Plus, I had a large garden right outside my doors, and a great neighborhood to walk around in, so the place never seemed as small to me... though I must admit I had a lot more furniture and stuff in there than was logical.

I was unable to find square footage statistics for OVERALL home size, but I was able to locate statistics ranking countries by room count. From largest number of rooms to smallest, they rank as follows: 1) Canada, 2)New Zeland, 3) UK, 4) USA, 5) Australia, 6) Ireland, 7) Norway, 8) Netherlands, 9) Germany, 10) Italy, 11) France, 12) Belgium, 13) Japan, 14) Denmark, 15) Switzerland, 16) Sweden, 17) Austria, 18) Finland. So Canadians, Kiwis, and Brits all have more rooms in their homes than Americans. The average American home built in the 50's was 800sf. The average American home built in the 70's was 1400sf. In the 2000's it rose to 2400sf. But it's falling again. America is not alone in having more rooms than we need. The Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, and Canadians all average about 2.6 people per house, yet the vast majority of their houses have over 5 rooms.

1150sf. Me, husband, two kids, cat and a dog (chihuahua). The living space is okay when it's just us, but we could use more built-ins and storage solutions. Hard to entertain due to small rooms, but we love the neighborhood, so it's all worth it.

640. 4 people. Homeschooling, so no "everyone gone all day" phenomena here. What we are missing is (semi-)private outdoor space.

1100 square feet for one adult, two teens, and two very big dogs. We have more than enough room now and the house will be perfect (perhaps even too big?) for the empty-nest years that are approaching. My only wish is for a garage. I live in the upper midwest and it's a bit of a pain to have to scrape off the car all winter and deal with the giant trees surrounding the property and occasionally causing damage.

Our entire house in Canada is around 4,000 square feet. But in our defense, the house in 100 years old and we rent out the basement suite and top floor to tenants (six people share the 4,000 sq/ft). That means our own living space is about 1,500 square feet.

At the core of this issue is land use. In North America, there's more land/space and we don't use it very wisely.

Here in Toronto, where land value is sky high and the inner core of the city is still largely Victorian, there are a lot of houses like mine—fairly big houses but on small properties. My house is a 130 year old Victorian row house on a 16.5 ft. wide lot. At about 1,900 sq. ft. it's bigger than we would need if we didn't work at home. Someday we'd like to have a small house with a big garden instead of the other way around.

I notice how much the question of storage comes up. I am curious as to what we are all having to store! I am about to go from about 1400 sq ft with basement, to 900 sq ft without any storage to speak of, and I am struggling with things like, Christmas and season decor, sentimental items, that I want to keep but will not have any real space for...I am curious as to what everyone else is doing with these kinds of items!

The Montreal houses I was raised in maxed out at 4500 sq. ft or so, for four humans, two pups. Both were over 100 years old... and are pretty standard size-wise for their area. I moved to Vancouver at 18 and lived in an under 800 sq. ft. two bedroom with two roommates... I had the smallest of the rooms, which was approximately 70 sq. ft- actually supposed to be a solarium. Underbed storage saved my life. Big adjustment from having my own floor growing up... I have since lived in a range of (modest) apartment sizes in Montreal and Toronto, and am currently sharing a bit over 500 sq. ft. quite comfortably with my boyfriend. I would take 500 sq. ft. over 5000 any day.

2300, as mentioned previously, includes everything (side split). been here 3 years. previously 1200 with a postage stamp patio. too small for two people working from home, plus two growing kids. Before that 700, 600 (in a Vancouver basement)...and our first teeny apartment in the UK - 300, with slanting ceilings.

2900 sq ft plus a 1200 sq ft unfinished basement with 14' ceilings, two windows and door (but, crazy enough - no internal access from the house). NOT a McMansion, though... 70's tri-level with the most obnoxious shingles coming down the side of the house thing going on. I've googled the heck out of it and can't figure out the architectural style.

It's much larger than our family of 5 needs, but it's a massive fixer upper and we love a good project (good thing, too!).

We have a 1400 sq foot 3 level townhouse for 4 people. Sometimes I wish we had just one more room or a basement, but for the most part it works great for our family.

I just moved into a 828 sf 1 br in Minneapolis for me and my kitten who doesn't even weigh a pound yet. I find that it's a good sized space for one person-who works in the design world and loves! furniture and home decor.

I like that I have a large bedroom which dwarfs my queen bed, a separate dining room that I'll be using as an art/studio space. Cute kitchen and a huge living room that really needs to be divided into 2 spaces.

I have lived in smaller apts say around 600sf and for me I find that I like having lots of space and high ceilings. I just don't like feeling cramped or not being able to delineate my sleep area from my work/relax/eating areas.

My husband & I plus two kids lovingly call 3000 sq ft our heaven on earth after residing in a trailer for two years after Katrina so we're loving every sq inch.

@meryn, regarding storage, in my earlier post I said there was a dire lack of it in homes in Ireland and the UK. Things we need to store would be
1)Tools
2) Garden equipment (lawn mower, pots, strimmer, rake etc)
3)Camping gear
4)Bikes
5)Christmas decorations
6)sentimental stuff
7)furniture not currently used
8)Spare blankets, bedding, linen.

So here's how we do it.
Garden shed; tools, garden equipment, bikes
Attic; Christmas decorations, Ruck sacks and camping gear, sentimental stuff
Hot press/ Linen closet/airing cupboard; for bedding, towels and all things 'cloth'.

Everything else is a big problem, so folk lend spare funiture to poor relatives and stick stuff in the top of wardrobes and under beds.... it's every man for himself once the three main storage areas are used

STATISTICS LIE!

Why is there no measure in the spread of the data? Every college graduate knows that you can't just post the average, you have to give some measure of the variation. Why isn't that included? There may be NO REAL difference among all the countries listed.

And why include just 2003+ construction? This is totally skewing the data. Do you know how many homes were built after WWII in America? Just look at Levittown, home sizes about 800 - 1000 sq ft.

If I were cynical I'd say it was because the point is to slam Americans, or if I were slightly less cynical I'd say it was because the person making the graph didn't know what variation was.

I have to agree with the commenters noting how poorly these stats were presented. That said, I *do* think we generally buy more space than we actually need. 3 years ago, our family of 7 downsized from 2800 square feet (too large... the upkeep was a bear) down to 2300 square feet. It felt tight at first, but only because we hadn't downsized our belongings enough to fit the new house. Since moving in, we've decluttered quite a bit and it's now very comfortable. What's interesting, though, is that because we've been working on cosmetic home improvements, we've consistently been out one bedroom and our back "bonus" room has been completely unusable except for as a workshop. So, our living space had actually been more like 1950 sq. ft. We homeschool - so everyone but my husband is home all day, every day in that amount of space and it's not inconvenient. I was surprised by that. I would never have guessed our somewhat larger family would need les than 2000 sq. ft.

No one said they were *happy* living in 818 sf. Or healthy.

2800sf here in suburban South Carolina for 2 adults, 2 children and 2 cats. We have 4 bedrooms with 3 full bathrooms and one half-bath plus a bonus room. Sometimes I think it's too big, but we have overnight guests pretty regularly and really need the extra space. The only place that rarely gets used for its true purpose is the formal dining room. Our first house was 1800sf, second one was 2700sf. I can testify to the fact that the amount of "stuff" you have will expand to fit the amount of space you have!

We traveled to China a few years ago and our guide told us that the typical apartment in Hong Kong was about 500sf and housed 6-8 people or more.

Our urban Dutch apartment is 700 sq. feet for the two of us, and I can't tell you how many comments we get on how large and roomy it is!

I grew in a 4,400 sq.ft. house (1975+, at 9 years old; only one sibling).
My parents now have 2 houses at 7,000+ sq.ft. each. Their condo on the 80th floor is about 3,500 sq.ft. Yep they are in the top 0.1% of wealth. Please don't be jealous or envious. That is an unnecessary & very selfish emotion.

Oh, BTW, that's suburban Chicago.
By area, Chicago is about the 3rd largest urban area (NOT metropolitan, built up) in the world. By population it's about 20th.

I was just going through the 2012 Small Cool entries and linked into this conversation, so I am very late.
Me, hubby, 3 kids, 5 cats, a dog and a turtle, are in a 1200 sq ft, four bedroom townhouse, with two levels, no garage, attic, basement or shed.
We are very comfortable thanks to organization and minimalism, but I think the Small Cool Contest needs a "4 bedroom" category :D

The first house my parents built after marrying was 2700 sqft. When I was 13 we(mom dad sister and I plus small dog) moved into about a 5000 sqft house(5 bedrooms,4baths, with extra play rooms and what not) we live in new orleans. Have all my life. I moved out with my fiancée and our little apartment mid city cant be more than the size of my parents living room.. But it's fine for 2 people a cat and a snake lol :)

Our home here in Arizona was built in 2004... 1726 square feet for 7 people, a dog & a cat.

725 sq ft for two of us, two big dogs and two cats. I don't mind the square footage but the lack of closets and lack of basement is tough for storage. We've been happy here for 11 years but are moving up to 1300 sq ft next month. Can't wait, it will feel huge!

growing up in north america, i'm used to large scaled houses; living in our london house feels inhumane most days. I live with my husband, son, and Shiba Inu in a 960 square foot victorian terraced house. its not too small but because the layout is so ridiculous we only seem to spend out waking life in one room- and unfortunately this room has no windows. I think its not so important the square footage of a house, but rather the layout and how it respects its inhabitents. Check out Alain de Botton's "The Architecture of Happiness"- A far superior documentary on how we live in our houses.

Wow, I can now say my apartment is French Style.

Light filled 2800 square foot home for two adults and until very recently a small dog (sniff). We are looking to downsize when we move to another state in the coming year. I agree with other posters that it depends on how the space is laid out and used. For us I think 1200 square feet would feel ideal.

I'm now 18. Until I was 15 i lived with my family, 2 parents and my brother, at about 550 sq ft apartment. It was really tiny despite the fact it contained 3 rooms. Rooms had lots of function, for ex. the biggest, around 170 sq ft room was parent's bedroom, living and dining.
Fortunately we built, i mean my dear parents, a large, detached house which is 1500 sq ft. and it seems perfect :) Now when I go to tiny apartments I feel like put into a dollhouse ;)

This is always an interesting discussion. I don't know what I criticize more, a huge house or the architecture on newer homes! Having said that, I own two huge homes. Ugh! Our main house is around 3900sf. There are 3 adults and two teenagers. The space above the garage is included in this and is a large room where my husband works from home. This also includes a finished partial basement. It is plenty big.

Our second home we purchased last year in an area we have always wanted to own land. We plan to live there until we die. Well, that 80 acre farm came with a 1978 rambling ranch of about 4500 sf. Not on my list of wants or needs! there is a crawl space and no attic. The previous owners had 10 children. I think the size was pretty justified for them! We debated tearing it down and building something smaller. In the end, the price to build a 2000 sf home was as much to build as it was to fix up the existing home and make it a lot more energy efficient. I'd say it was more environmentally friendly to remodel than tear down. Imagine that huge house in a land fill and then, going out and getting all new materials to rebuild. We planned to move into this home in May and sell our city home. But, plans have been delayed for a while. I do have a large extended family who often come to visit our farm.

I know, this is long!

We just spent the last 3 months traveling in Japan, Korea, and Europe. We used Air B and B online to rent homes/flats to stay in. We noticed some things about home size. The large cities generally have small homes and the country side larger homes. Some homes were very large. The US is the same way. The Layout of a house makes a huge difference on how much space you need! Larger new homes cost as much to heat as many older not updated homes. I noticed that most people dry their clothes on a drying rack. I am sure this saves a lot of energy! Besides their dryers take FOREVER to dry! It is faster to hang your clothes on the heat register or rack to dry. Saves a lot of wear and tear on clothing.

I often get annoyed at two people living in a huge new " green" house! Do huge and green go together? I realize that many of us do own larger homes than we need and more homes than we need! ( me!) But, it is so difficult to tell what people's individual needs are. Do you work from home? Is someone in your home handicapped? Do your aging parents live with you? Do you entertain a lot? How do you guage how big is too big? It is like telling people what their political views should be. Or their religion or their family size. Of course we need to take care of our mother Earth!

So, what should we do? Start with yourself. Make continual small changes in your life style. Share what a difference it has made for you and how you did it. Once people are kindly enlightened, they can study for themselves and make better choices. Everyone doing this will make BIG change.

Remember, " Throwing mud" just makes people mad, confused, and hateful.

Thanks!