Coworking Is Big In LA's Suburbs

The Los Angeles metro area leads the nation with the highest number of suburban coworking outposts.

Forty-four percent of coworking spaces are now in the suburbs, with the Los Angeles metro area leading the nation with the highest number of suburban coworking outposts.

Overall, there are a whopping 361 coworking spaces in Los Angeles suburbs, according to a new analysis from CoworkingCafe. The LA suburb of Irvine, located south of the City of Angels in adjacent Orange County, has 91 coworking spaces, distantly followed in the suburban rankings by Newport Beach and Arlington, Va., each with 25.

“Given Irvine’s status as one of the wealthiest suburbs that’s also self-serving and within close proximity of the City of Angels, it’s only natural that coworking spaces would be an integral part of the business scene here. As the home of the University of California and with its quick access to both scenic beaches and mountains, this California suburb has what it takes to attract a large influx of entrepreneurs, freelancers and standalone businesses,” the report notes.

Pasadena also has a relatively high number of coworking spaces at 16, and comes in ninth on CommercialCafe’s rankings and third in the LA metro area itself.  Long Beach has 15, Beverly ills has 13, Santa Monica and Costa Mesa each have 10, and Glendale logs 10.

“Unsurprisingly, big coworking players have made their entrance into the LA suburbs, with 197 flex workspaces belonging to Flex Workspace+, Premier Workspaces, Regus, WeWork, Spaces and others,” the report notes. “In fact, more than half of Flex Workspace+’s national inventory is currently spread across LA suburbs. The remaining 164 LA coworking spaces are accredited to smaller operators, like TailoredSpace, SuitesPro or Hollywood Production Center.”

Los Angeles also serves as an exception of sorts, with more suburban flex spaces than urban ones. There are currently 260 more coworking spaces in suburban areas than in the city proper.

Washington DC has 160 coworking spaces in its suburbs, led by Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, and Bethesda. Meanwhile, San Francisco’s suburbs claim 108 suburban coworking spaces, led by Oakland.