Why not charge every room the same
An even split prices the best room too low and the worst room too high. The best room fills the day you post it, and you never find out what it was worth. The worst room sits, because the person looking at it can see the bigger one down the hall for the same money.
An empty room costs you its whole rent every month it sits. Pricing the small room a little lower costs you a few dollars a month. So price each room for what it offers and let the house total stay where you need it.
What goes into a room's price
Three things, in this order. Each one is a number you set, so you can see what moves a room's rent and say why when a resident asks.
- A private bathroom: a flat amount each month, taken off the top and given to the rooms that have one
- The shared house: the kitchen, living room and laundry everybody uses, divided evenly
- The bedroom itself: what is left, divided by square feet
What the numbers cannot see
Square feet miss a lot. A room with no closet, a window facing the street, or the wall it shares with the laundry is worth less than its size says. A room with its own door to the yard is worth more.
Use the figures here as the starting point. Then move a room by hand where you know something the tape measure does not, and take the same dollars off another room so the house still adds up.
Last, look at what single rooms near you are listed for. If your smallest room comes out above them, the house target is too high for the house, and no split will fix that.
A worked example
A five-bedroom house that has to bring in $3,400 a month. Four bedrooms share two bathrooms and the primary suite has its own. A private bathroom adds $75, half the rent is for the shared house, and each room is rounded to the nearest $5.
- Bedroom 1, 110 sq ft
- $590
- Bedroom 2, 120 sq ft
- $615
- Bedroom 3, 130 sq ft
- $635
- Bedroom 4, 150 sq ft
- $685
- Primary suite, 200 sq ft, own bathroom
- $875
- An even split would be
- $680 each
The primary suite is nearly twice the size of Bedroom 1 and pays about half as much again, not double, because both residents use the same kitchen and living room.
Common questions
How do I decide what the whole house should rent for?
Add up what the house costs you each month, including the utilities, internet and cleaning you cover, then add what you need to be left with. Check that against single rooms listed near you. The rent by the room calculator on this site puts those costs side by side with renting the house whole.
How do I measure a bedroom?
Length times width, wall to wall, in feet. Count a closet that opens into the room. Leave out the hallway and any bathroom, because a private bathroom has its own line here. Round to the nearest whole square foot.
Should two people in one room pay more?
This prices the room, not the people in it. If your lease lets two people share a bedroom, write down what the second person adds each month, because they use water and power too, and use the same amount for every room in the house.
Why do the rooms always add up exactly?
Each room is rounded down first. The few dollars left over then go, one step at a time, to the rooms that lost the most to rounding. No room ends up more than one step from its unrounded figure, and the total never drifts.
These calculators are educational and are not legal, tax, lending, or accounting advice. Rules vary by state and by city, and your lease governs your own properties. Check your own requirements before relying on any number here.