Top 15 Largest Players in America’s Coworking Industry

Key Takeaways:

• Regus held the leading position with almost 1,000 U.S.
• HQ Global Workplaces had the most significant expansion with 240% growth from 2022 to May 2024.
• The total inventory of the 15 largest coworking operators rose 14% from 2022 to 2024, adding 252 new locations.
• Lucid Private Offices entered the top 15 after increasing its inventory by 23%.

Coworking spaces provide a solution for achieving the current work model that’s characterized by flexibility, connectivity and innovation. Accordingly, the industry shows promising growth as remote work continues to be more common and as the gig economy increases in popularity. In fact, the market experienced a 20% rise in coworking spaces from December 2022 to May 2024. And, even with some companies exploring hybrid work models to see workers more often in the office, major coworking operators are still growing their portfolios or restructuring their activity in 2024.

So, as we approach mid-year, below is an overview of the top operators in the coworking industry to help you better understand the market.

Regus was the leading U.S. operator at the beginning of May, with 972 locations throughout the country. Specifically, Regus registered a 17% growth in its number of spaces since December 2022. Furthermore, other than HQ, Regus was the only other operator that opened more than 100 locations in almost two years.

Regus’ astounding catalog made it possible to maintain its leading position from the previous report in 2022. Additionally, its numbers were more than four times the inventory of its challenger, HQ. Finally, the operator is also part of a collective of global and regional workspace brands — alongside Spaces, HQ, Signature by Regus and No18 — that form the IWG network.

Perhaps the most impressive development was HQ Global Workplaces’ move to the second position among the top U.S. operators. By last month, HQ held 204 locations in the U.S. and was the fastest-growing coworking operator overall with 240% more spaces since December 2022.

This was quite a jump from the eighth position that it ranked back in 2022, when it had 60 spaces. HQ’s evolution also resulted in 144 new spaces across the country in almost two years, which challenged other operators’ market positions.

Falling only one position, WeWork was among the operators that experienced a reduction since the end of 2022. It reduced its footprint by 73 locations as part of a consolidation strategy, a reduction of 30% overall.

At the beginning of last month, the operator had 173 spaces and WeWork found itself as a top three contender. The operator was surpassed only by HQ’s rapid rise and Regus’ position. Notably, the operator had a significant global presence and was highly popular among workers for its innovative spaces. Finishing 28 spaces apart from its challenger, WeWork secured a solid position in the ranking.

Industrious Office opened 10 more national locations since the final month of 2022. In this case, the operator’s increase to 145 spaces in the U.S. by last month is a clear sign of coworking’s rising popularity as growing demand fuels supply. As a result, Industrious Office ranked fourth following 7% growth in its inventory.

Spaces held 137 locations around the U.S. this year. The 20 new spots it opened since the end of 2022 helped the operator to solidify the fifth position, which resulted in a 17% increase by this year. Notably, Spaces generally kept its performance up and only fell one spot one position only due to HQ’s impressive growth.

Premier Workspaces had 86 spaces nationally as of May 2024. Here, the operator lost its previous fifth-place ranking primarily because of HQ. Even so, it still held onto a solid position in the top. Moreover, even with a drop in its portfolio, the operator still led the next competitor by seven locations.

Office Evolution reduced its portfolio by just two locations since 2022. This 2% decrease left the operator with 79 locations across the nation and gave it a solid place among the top 15 largest coworking operators.

Workstyle Flexible Spaces had a similar change as Office Evolution after dropping two locations since the end of 2022. Consequently, the operator kept its inventory at a healthy 65 spaces around the U.S. after it registered a small decline of 3%.

It’s worth mentioning here that Workstyle was 19 spaces in front of the next operator, which may secure its position for a while.

Venture X grew since 2022, moving it up two positions, and into the top 10 largest coworking operators in the U.S. The opening of four new locations led to a 10% over their inventory in 2022. This expansion put Venture X at 46 spaces at the beginning of last month.

Rounding out the top 10 coworking operators in the U.S. was Intelligent Office. As one of the oldest domestic operators, Intelligent Office had 43 national locations this year. That said, its decline of 4% didn’t affect its ranking much, only moving it down by one position from its previous #9 spot.

The last operator on the list to experience a reduction in footprint, Expansive closed one space, which left it with 42 national locations as of this year. The operator also only moved one spot in the ranking, which shows that its 2% drop in location space didn’t have a significant impact and is still right on the heels of Intelligent Office.

LocalWorks operated 36 locations in the U.S. at the beginning of May 2024 after an impressive 16% growth since December 2022. Moreso, it was able to hold its position as the 12^th-largest operator in the U.S., because of those five new locations they added to their inventory.

COhatch was another operator that managed to maintain its rank from the previous top. At the beginning of the last month, it presented 34 spaces across the U.S., which placed it 13^th nationally. It added four new locations which grew its national portfolio by 13%.

Serendipity Labs experienced remained steady, adding one location since 2022. More precisely, at the beginning of May 2024, the operator had 28 locations in the U.S., which resulted in 4% growth. Nevertheless, this reinforced the operator’s position among the 15 largest operators in the U.S.

Lastly, Lucid Private Offices entered the top 15 largest operators in the U.S. after opening five new locations. In particular, it had 27 locations nationally this year, which led to an impressive 23% increase in its total inventory. The operator also jumped two positions to round out the 15 largest coworking operators’ ranking. Lucid is also an example of how the market’s expansion can positively affect its players’ evolution.

Expert Insights:

1. What are the trends in corporate downsizing and real estate optimization, and how are they influencing the coworking space market?

Doug Ressler, Manager of Business Intelligence at Yardi Matrix: “With many office leases expiring by 2025, companies are reevaluating their real estate strategies, considering moves, renovations, expansions or downsizing. Additionally, the shift to hybrid work has led to a rethinking of space utilization with a focus on technology and data to understand actual use and predict workplace patterns. As a result, the coworking market is constantly evolving and growing across the U.S. to better cater to the modern needs of both businesses and employees.”

Peter Kolaczynski, Director of Data & Research: “We continue to see growth in options and demand in the suburbs. Companies that have seen the most growth seem to be focusing on bringing coworking options closer to where employees live. The office market’s physical occupancy aligns with what we have been seeing. Two benefits that are amplified now in coworking are the demand and the cost. Many CRE brokerages are reporting that the demand for ‘small’ office space has never been higher, which plays right into a void that coworking can fill. There have also been studies, including our [sister website CoworkingCafe] report last year, explaining the cost/benefit of coworking for office locations of 50 employees or less.”

2. What unique value does HQ offer to the market that drives IWG’s decision to expand it so significantly?

Ressler: “IWG is in the process of adding about 1,000 locations worldwide over a one-year period, aiming to grow its network, which already spans over 120 countries. The expansion is mostly through management agreements with landlords, rather than long-term lease commitments, which allows for more flexibility and less financial risk. Part of the expansion includes a focus on suburban and rural locations, which aligns with the trend of remote work and can potentially offer lower costs.”

3. What factors have contributed most significantly to the growth of Lucid Private Offices?

Ressler: “Lucid Private Offices has made a significant impact on the coworking space industry by rebranding and expanding beyond its Texas footprint. Lucid is opening new locations outside of Texas, including in the Atlanta area, and is planning to expand into the Phoenix area, as well. ”

Final Thoughts

The largest coworking operators’ evolution shows a positive response to the public demand for a flexible and innovative workspace. Plus, with the nation adding 1,166 new coworking locations between December 2022 and the beginning of May 2024, these may be a successful response to customers’ expectations. What’s more, the diverse supply of offices, amenities, and membership options may also provide valuable insights into the dynamic interplay between workspace design and technology. Therefore, by understanding the operators’ evolution, one can better prepare to successfully adapt to the changes in the coworking industry.

Methodology

• To create this report, we used proprietary data from CoworkingMag to determine the number of coworking spaces per market.
• The study was based exclusively on the listing data available on CoworkingMag as of May 1, 2024.
• While future locations may be listed on operator websites before they open, they are not considered in this report. Therefore, some minor discrepancies may exist.
• Brands were considered independent entities, regardless of whether they were partially or fully owned or managed by the same company.
• CoworkingCafe is the big sister of CoworkingMag and we used for comparisons CoworkingCafe’s previous article: https://www.coworkingcafe.com/blog/year-end-roster-ranking-the-largest-u-s-coworking-operators-in-2022/#:~:text=as%20part%20of%20a%20consolidation%20strategy%2C

Fair Use & Redistribution

We encourage you to reuse, host, or repost the images in this article, and freely grant permission to do so. We kindly ask that you attribute the authors by linking to CoworkingMag.com or this page to allow your readers to learn more about this project, the research behind it and its methodology.