Twenty years ago, coworking barely existed as a concept. Today, somewhere between five and six million people head to a shared workspace every day, in cities as far apart as Austin, Amsterdam, and Auckland. The coworking revolution moved fast, going from a single room in San Francisco’s Mission District to a globally recognized industry in under two decades, and it shows no sign of stalling.
The pandemic reshuffled every assumption about where and how we work. Hybrid work has became the dominant operating model for office-using businesses worldwide, turning flexible space from a freelancer niche into a core tool of corporate real estate strategy.
This is how coworking got here, and what the numbers say about where it is headed.
Key Takeaways
- The first official coworking space opened in San Francisco in August 2005. Two decades later, the U.S. counts nearly 9,000 locations covering more than 150 million square feet.
- Coworking began as a haven for freelancers seeking community. Today, enterprises account for the largest share of demand, with hybrid work reshaping who coworks and why.
- WeWork’s restructuring under Yardi Systems ownership and its return to profitability in 2025 illustrate the resilience of the coworking model when paired with a more sustainable operating structure.
- According to CoworkingCafe data, coworking still represents just 2.2% of total U.S. office inventory, indicating substantial runway for continued growth.
Before “Coworking” Had a Name
The idea of people sharing workspace outside traditional employment predates the word itself. In 1995, a group of 17 founding members came together in Berlin to create C-Base, one of the earliest hackerspaces in the world. It was a not-for-profit venue where programmers, digital activists, and technology enthusiasts could collaborate, share tools, and work alongside one another. The ethos was communal rather than commercial, but the blueprint was recognizable.
The term “coworking” arrived in 1999, coined by game designer Bernard DeKoven. His usage was philosophical rather than architectural. He envisioned a way of working defined by collaboration and the breakdown of hierarchy, not a specific type of space. That same year, a New York software company opened 42 West 24 in Manhattan, offering flexible desk arrangements and a professional environment, though without any emphasis on community or networking. The infrastructure was there; the culture was not yet.
In 2002, two Austrian entrepreneurs converted a Vienna factory into Schraubenfabrik, a space for architects, PR consultants, startups, and freelancers to work alongside one another. They did not call it coworking, but in practice, it was the closest thing to it that existed.
A Timeline of Coworking
Key moments from the first hackerspace to a nearly 9,000-location industry
1995
C-Base opens in Berlin
Seventeen founding members create one of the first hackerspaces in the world. A not-for-profit venue for collaboration among programmers and digital activists, it is an obvious forerunner of what coworking will become.
1999
The word is coined
Game designer Bernard DeKoven uses “coworking” to describe a collaborative, hierarchy-free way of working together. Not yet a type of space, but a philosophy.
1999
42 West 24 opens in New York
A software company launches what may be the first flexible desk space in the U.S. It is professional, well-designed, and commercially minded, though without the community aspect that would define later coworking.
2002
Schraubenfabrik, Vienna
Two Austrian entrepreneurs open an entrepreneurial center in a converted factory, gathering architects, consultants, and freelancers under one roof. In spirit if not in name, it is one of the earliest true coworking spaces.
2005
The first official coworking space opens
On August 9th, Brad Neuberg opens San Francisco Coworking Space at Spiral Muse in the Mission District, paying $300 a month for two days a week. For the first month, nobody shows up. After outreach, a developer named Ray Baxter becomes the world’s first official coworker.
2006
The Hat Factory and the Coworking Wiki
Neuberg and around ten collaborators, including Chris Messina and Tara Hunt, create the first full-time coworking space, The Hat Factory. Messina, later known as the inventor of the Twitter hashtag, also launches the Coworking Wiki, an open-source resource helping spaces and members find one another globally.
2006
The doubling begins
From 2006, the number of coworking spaces and members roughly doubles each year for seven consecutive years. This sustained run of growth earns the name “the coworking revolution.”
2007
Europe catches the coworking bug
La Boate opens in Marseille (France’s first), Citizen Space in Zurich (Switzerland’s first), and Gracia Workcenter in Barcelona (Spain’s first). Coworking spreads across the continent within months.
2008
Coworking visas arrive
Participating spaces begin offering members free access at other locations worldwide. An early prototype of the global flexible workspace networks that major operators would later build.
2010
WeWork is founded
Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey, who had previously run an eco-friendly Brooklyn coworking space called GreenDesk, open WeWork’s first location in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. The company ends its first year with 450 members.
2010
International Coworking Day established
Five years to the day after Neuberg opened the first official coworking space, August 9th is declared International Coworking Day. It is now observed annually at spaces around the world.
2013
First coworking health insurance plan
Coworking Ontario launches COHIP, the world’s first health insurance plan designed for coworking members. The program gives freelancers and independent workers access to workplace benefits for the first time.
2017
One million coworkers
The global coworking population crosses one million members. A threshold that would have been unimaginable when Neuberg sat alone in his San Francisco space twelve years earlier.
2018
WeWork peaks in Manhattan
WeWork becomes the single largest private occupier of office space in Manhattan, ahead of major banks. It also holds the top tenant position in London and Washington, D.C. London now has more coworking space than New York, San Francisco, and Berlin.
2019
The IPO that never happened
WeWork files for an IPO at a SoftBank-backed valuation of $47 billion. Its prospectus reveals deep governance problems and mounting losses. Investors reject the offering, CEO Adam Neumann is forced out, and the company’s public debut is pulled.
2020
The pandemic empties offices everywhere
COVID-19 forces mass working-from-home across the globe, devastating occupancy at coworking spaces and traditional offices alike. Remote work, once a freelancer edge case, becomes mainstream practice. The experiment in flexibility begins in earnest.
2021
Hybrid work becomes the expectation
Surveys consistently show the majority of office workers want a split between home and office, not a full return. Companies begin formalizing hybrid policies and reassessing how much fixed desk space they actually need.
2023
WeWork files for bankruptcy
On November 6th, WeWork files for Chapter 11 protection with approximately $19 billion in liabilities. The bankruptcy underscored the difficulty of running a coworking business with a heavy long-term lease structure, and prompted a broader rethink of operator-landlord arrangements across the industry.
2024
WeWork emerges from bankruptcy under Yardi ownership
In May, WeWork exits Chapter 11 after eliminating $4 billion in debt and closing roughly 160 locations. Yardi Systems, the real estate technology company, acquires a 60% stake. By mid-2025, the company reports a return to profitability with a leaner, enterprise-focused model.
2025
CBRE acquires Industrious at an $800M valuation
In January, real estate services giant CBRE acquires the remaining 60% stake in Industrious for roughly $400 million, valuing the coworking operator at $800 million, and folds it into a new Building Operations & Experience segment. The deal signals that coworking has moved firmly into the institutional mainstream of commercial real estate.
2025
U.S. coworking reaches 159 million square feet
CoworkingCafe data shows the U.S. coworking market closes 2025 with nearly 9,000 active locations covering more than 150 million square feet, with double-digit year-over-year growth in both site count and total footprint. Coworking still accounts for around 2% of total U.S. office inventory.
The Industry Today
The coworking market today is a more disciplined, more institutional industry than the one that came of age in the 2010s. Asset-light management agreements have replaced long-term master leases at many operators. Revenue-sharing arrangements between operators and landlords tie incentives to occupancy. Enterprise tenants now sit alongside the freelancers who filled the early years.
According to Yardi Research data, the U.S. counts nearly 9,000 active coworking locations spanning more than 150 million square feet, with double-digit year-over-year growth in both site count and total footprint. Globally, the market includes roughly 42,000 spaces and an estimated five to six million members. Industry forecasts value the global market at around $21 billion, with projections pointing to substantial growth over the next decade.
Manhattan remains the highest-density market, with more than 12 million square feet of coworking space. Chicago follows at close to 9 million, with Los Angeles above 7 million. The national median for an open or dedicated desk membership sits in the low-$200s per month, with day passes around $30 and meeting rooms near $45 per hour.
Who Coworks Now
The profile of a coworker has changed substantially since the early years, when freelancers and independent developers made up the overwhelming majority of members. Today, enterprises represent the largest segment of demand. Recent industry research shows that the large majority of corporate real estate leaders have formalized hybrid attendance policies, with a three- or four-days-in-office rhythm emerging as the dominant arrangement. Companies that once needed a full floor of fixed desks now require flexibility instead. Coworking functions as an elasticity valve, absorbing spikes in demand without the burden of a long-term lease.
By sector, IT and technology businesses account for roughly half of U.S. coworking demand, with business consulting and professional services growing steadily behind them. The average coworking member is around 36 years old. Millennials still represent the largest demographic cohort at 61%, though Gen Z membership is expanding and the gender split has become near-equal, a significant change from the industry’s heavily male-skewed early years.
Geographically, growth is no longer confined to gateway cities. Secondary markets have become increasingly active. Dallas–Fort Worth has grown coworking inventory at a double-digit clip and now sits among the country’s largest markets, with Phoenix expanding at a similar pace. Suburban and satellite locations, closer to where hybrid workers live, are drawing operators away from exclusively downtown strategies.
The operators leading this next phase, among them IWG, Industrious (now part of CBRE), HQ, and Spaces, have built around asset-light management agreements and revenue-sharing arrangements with landlords. These structures tie operator and building-owner interests to actual occupancy, and they have proven well suited to an industry whose demand can shift quickly.
A Sector Still in Its Early Innings
At around 2% of total U.S. office inventory, coworking has room ahead of it that few sectors of commercial real estate can match. The demand is proven, the operating models have matured, and the tenant profile has broadened from freelancers to Fortune 500s. Yet the total footprint still represents a small fraction of the national office market. That gap is the opportunity.
Yardi Research data shows where recent growth is concentrated: larger formats in proven submarkets, longer-tenure members, and operators making calculated bets on markets where hybrid demand has already taken hold. It is an industry settling into its role as a permanent component of the office ecosystem rather than an alternative to it.
The underlying demand that Brad Neuberg intuited when he paid $300 a month for a two-day-a-week desk in a feminist collective has turned out to be real, broad, and durable. Twenty years on, it is also still growing.
Data in this article draws on quarterly reports published by CoworkingCafe and Yardi Matrix, supplemented by industry research from Deskmag, CBRE, and JLL. All figures cited represent the most recent available data at time of publication and are subject to revision as new quarters are reported.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
When did the first coworking space open? The first official coworking space opened on August 9, 2005, when Brad Neuberg set up San Francisco Coworking Space at a feminist collective called Spiral Muse in the Mission District. The date is now observed as International Coworking Day.
Who coined the term “coworking”? Game designer Bernard DeKoven introduced the term in 1999, though he used it to describe a collaborative style of working rather than a physical type of space. The meaning shifted over the following decade as the shared office industry developed.
How many coworking spaces are there in the U.S.? According to CoworkingCafe, a Yardi-operated research platform, the U.S. counts nearly 9,000 active coworking locations covering more than 150 million square feet. That represents around 2% of total U.S. office inventory.
What happened to WeWork? WeWork filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 6, 2023, listing roughly $19 billion in liabilities. It emerged from bankruptcy in May 2024 after eliminating $4 billion in debt and closing approximately 160 locations. Yardi Systems acquired a 60% stake as part of the restructuring. The company returned to profitability by mid-2025 under a leaner, enterprise-focused model.
What does a coworking membership typically cost? Nationally, the median starting price for an open or dedicated desk membership sits in the low-$200s per month, based on CoworkingCafe data. Day passes average around $30, meeting rooms about $45 per hour, and virtual office memberships near $160 per month. Prices vary significantly by market, with Manhattan medians running well above the national figure.
Who uses coworking spaces today? The user base has broadened well beyond the freelancers and independent contractors who drove early growth. Enterprises now represent the largest segment of demand, drawn by hybrid work policies that require flexibility rather than fixed desk commitments. The average coworking member is around 36 years old. Millennials account for roughly 61% of the membership base, with near-equal representation by gender.
Matthew Preston
Content Writer, CRE News & Market Analysis
Matthew has covered commercial real estate for CommercialCafe since 2022. He focuses on the office and industrial sectors, reporting on leasing, development, and investment across national markets and individual submarkets. His work draws on data and original research. He also writes about demographic shifts and urban innovation in U.S. cities. The New York Times, The Real Deal, Bisnow, The Business Journals, and Yahoo Finance have cited his reporting.
