5 Most Expensive Cities for Renting a Monthly Hot Desk

As the coworking industry continues to develop across second and third-tier cities, shared offices are growing in appeal. With the average price for a monthly hot desk rental reaching $189 USD (up from $183 in 2020), competition is ripe as spaces see rising demand from corporate clients and companies using a hub-and-spoke model of work.

In our latest report, the 2021 Desk Price Index, we examine the evolution and maturation of coworking markets around the world. By taking a data-led view of the industry as a whole, the report illuminates the most and least expensive cities and countries for coworking—a useful metric for operators looking to expand or develop new opportunities.

Our Analysis – Most Expensive Cities for Coworking 2021

In this year’s Desk Price Index, we examined the average monthly hot desk prices of more than 15,000 coworking spaces in 172 countries and across six continents based on data provided by Coworker.

Interestingly, the cities that emerged as the most expensive locations for monthly hot desk rentals were consistent with years prior.

In 2021, the top five most expensive cities included Santa Monica, California ($474 USD), Zurich, Switzerland ($434 USD), Monaco ($397 USD), Durham, North Carolina ($369 USD), and New York City, New York ($387 USD).

Since 2019, both Santa Monica and Zurich were included in the top five ranking of most expensive cities, speaking to the notoriously steep real estate prices of California and Switzerland.

In fact, four out of the top 10 cities with the highest average desk prices were in Switzerland, including Basel, Berne, Lucerne, and Zurich, while four out of the top 10 were in California, including Encinitas, Santa Monica, San Francisco, and Sunnyvale.

To read a detailed analysis of what these statistics reveal about the industry at large, download the full 2021 Desk Price Index report.