Coworking can be costly in Boston, but options abound
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Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
Coworking companies, large and small, promise a haven for productivity and maybe even community, but it'll cost you.
The big picture: Boston coworking spaces must balance the cost of doing business in one of the nation's costliest real estate markets with members' tighter budgets.
By the numbers: The monthly median price for a coworking membership in the Boston area is $235, about $10 more than the national median, according to CoworkingCafe's Q3 industry report.
- Higher-tiered plans and small offices within coworking spaces could cost two or three times that amount.
- Boston's median day pass price ($45) also exceeds the national median ($30), per the report.
State of play: WorkBar and Regus' day passes exceed Boston's average, though some of their multi-day passes bring down the total.
- Neighborhood coworking spaces have a mix of day and multipasses for slightly less: A single day-pass at WorkHub in Roslindale is $40.
- The Village Works has a four-day pass for $100 (it's running a 30% discount for the pack at the Jamaica Plain office).
Perhaps one of the best bargains for working parents is DaySpace, a coworking space with supervised play for children, in Dorchester.
- DaySpace's membership starts at $200 a month for an adult and child.
- That includes unlimited access to common spaces, unlimited supervised play and 50 hours of private room time.
Friction point: Maintaining coworking spaces and the amenities is getting costlier in this economy, but members are grappling with budget cuts and other pressures.
- Neighborhood coworking spaces, like the Fields Corner Business Lab, say they have offered more options for teams that need to downgrade their memberships.
Zoom in: The business lab created a flex option that charges $300 a month for a two-person team, with additional members costing $75 a month, says lab manager Sarah Riddle.
- That's lower than the $125 individual monthly pass — a rate that Riddle says the lab doesn't plan to hike anytime soon.
What they're saying: "They're just changing their memberships down to a more affordable level," Riddle tells Axios.
- "That's where I think that the model we have allows for people to be stable in their business address and business home while still meeting their budget needs."
- The lab has managed to make those changes while remaining profitable the last four years.