Coworking Finds Strong Footing Outside Gateway Cities

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Coworking has become an established component of the U.S. office landscape, with secondary markets playing an increasingly meaningful role in how flexible workspace is deployed beyond gateway cities.

As of April, the sector counted more than 9,200 locations nationwide, totaling over 165 million square feet, or about 2.3 percent of the country’s office inventory, CoworkingCafe data shows. While gateway cities continue to anchor the industry, growth has steadily expanded into secondary markets, where evolving work patterns, population shifts and cost considerations are reshaping demand.

Across secondary coworking markets, flexibility is less about dense urban clustering and more about accessibility, value and proximity to where people live. Operators are scaling into smaller metros with larger footprints and more diverse user bases, ranging from enterprise teams to local professionals.

“Occupancy is trending slightly ahead of our overall portfolio performance, and we have been able to support larger units in terms of rentable square footage in these markets,” Peri Demestihas, vice president & head of real estate growth at Industrious, told Commercial Property Executive. “These locations offer a premium value, with achieved pricing about 20 percent lower than network averages, while delivering on exceptional member experience and highly amenitized spaces.”

This dynamic is positioning secondary markets as a key frontier for coworking expansion. Using April data provided by CoworkingCafe, CPE identified the top 10 secondary markets where flex space represents a significant share of office inventory. The ranking is based on coworking inventory as a percentage of total stock and excludes gateway metros.

North Central Florida

North Central Florida is emerging as a fragmented yet steadily evolving coworking market, where localized demand and lifestyle-driven work patterns are shaping growth. Spanning the counties of Alachua, Volusia, Marion, Flagler and Putnam, the region totaled 30 coworking locations across roughly 440,000 square feet as of April, equating to 5.1 percent of total office inventory.

The region’s coworking footprint is dominated by small- to midsize locations, with most spaces under 25,000 square feet, reflecting an emphasis on flexibility and affordability rather than large centralized hubs. Gainesville serves as the primary anchor, representing more than a quarter of total inventory, supported by institutional operators such as HQ and Regus that attract enterprise users and academic spinouts.

Daytona Beach accounts for roughly 15 percent of coworking inventory and skews toward boutique, lifestyle-oriented spaces serving solopreneurs and creatives, while Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Ocala reflect increasingly localized, decentralized demand. Institutional coworking clusters remain selective, reinforcing the market’s distributed character.

“Companies of all sizes are shifting to flexible, distributed workplace models, using satellite offices and coworking to stay capital-light,” said Mark Dixon, CEO of IWG. “In smaller towns or submarkets, demand is rising as employees work closer to home while retaining access to professional, client-ready environments. At the same time, AI-driven job displacement will spur the creation of more startups and small businesses, further increasing the need for flexible workspace solutions.”

South Bend, Ind.

In South Bend, coworking has become a purpose-driven ecosystem rooted in education, manufacturing and entrepreneurship. According to CoworkingCafe, the market comprised 14 locations totaling just over 365,000 square feet as of April, or 5.0 percent of its office inventory. While relatively small, the footprint reflects a clear hub-and-spoke structure, with activity concentrated across economically distinct submarkets.

Kosciusko County accounts for roughly one-third of total coworking space, driven largely by a single innovation- and manufacturing-focused location, reinforcing its role as a corporate and R&D-oriented hub. Elkhart provides a more balanced mix of institutional and local operators, often housed in adaptive-reuse projects tied to the region’s manufacturing legacy.

East South Bend benefits from proximity to the University of Notre Dame, supporting demand from academic spinouts and professional services firms. Meanwhile, downtown South Bend functions less as a conventional flex-office market and more as an incubator-led entrepreneurial ecosystem aligned with local economic development priorities.

“The rise of the ‘15-minute city’ is reinforcing demand for flexible workspace closer to where people live, reducing commutes while giving companies the agility to scale space up or down in an increasingly unpredictable environment,” Dixon noted.

Charleston, S.C.

Charleston’s shared space sector has matured into one of the most competitive secondary coworking markets in the Southeast. As of April, the metro comprised 47 locations totaling roughly 610,000 square feet, accounting for 4.3 percent of office inventory.

Rather than relying on a single downtown core, Charleston operates as a multi-node market. North Charleston, Mount Pleasant and Downtown Charleston together represent nearly 60 percent of total coworking inventory. North Charleston leads in scale and enterprise demand, Mount Pleasant caters to professional services firms, while the downtown area functions as both a prestige hub and a startup ecosystem.

“Coworking demand is now on par with traditional office lease demand in Charleston,” said Paula Gomprecht, vice president of marketing at Serendipity Labs. “Tenants are now including flexible office options as an alternative to making conventional long-term lease commitments.”

This momentum is supported by strong in-migration and a diversifying economy, particularly in Mount Pleasant, where new finance and investment firms have expanded the tenant base. Still, limited Class A supply presents a constraint. “For large blocks … there isn’t much space availability,” Gomprecht noted, reinforcing that competition for high-quality space remains intense.

Pensacola, Fla.

In Pensacola, coworking has developed as a distributed, coastal market shaped by military-adjacent services, tourism and a steady base of small professional firms. As of April, the market had 23 locations across more than 280,000 square feet—representing 3.8 percent of office inventory—operating less as a centralized hub and more as a corridor stretching along the Gulf Coast.

Demand is spread across multiple nodes rather than concentrated downtown. Miramar Beach represents the market’s largest and most institutionally aligned submarket, accounting for more than 61,000 square feet of flexible space. Anchored by Spaces alongside boutique providers, the area blends enterprise-grade flexibility with lifestyle-driven usage, appealing to second-home professionals, consultants and distributed teams.

This mix reflects broader shifts in flexible workspace adoption. As Matt Cozza, vice president of development at Vast Coworking Group, observed, coworking is increasingly being used by enterprises to support distributed teams and establish small regional hubs, particularly in secondary and suburban markets.

“Product offerings are also evolving to reflect that shift,” he said. “There’s significant demand for smaller private offices that can accommodate individuals or small teams, which makes coworking particularly attractive for enterprise clients seeking flexible satellite space.”

This trend is also evident in Gulf Breeze, which functions as a stable suburban anchor. Coworking there is largely centered on executive suite formats serving legal, medical and financial users, with an emphasis on privacy and consistency. Downtown Pensacola, by contrast, maintains a relatively small coworking footprint, underscoring the absence of a dominant central business district despite its historical role as the region’s core.

Las Vegas

The coworking sector in Las Vegas is defined by a highly institutionalized and spatially dispersed model, shaped less by urban creative demand and more by enterprise flex and suburban office ecosystems. As of April, the market had 87 locations totaling close to 1.5 million square feet, or about 3.8 percent of total office inventory, positioning Las Vegas among the more saturated secondary coworking markets in the U.S.

Major coworking clusters continue to concentrate in Summerlin, Henderson, Spring Valley and the Airport/Paradise corridor, with Henderson in particular showing a notable expansion in footprint and operator diversity this year. The submarket features a dense mix of national and regional platforms—including Regus, WeWork, Kiln., Premier Workspaces, HQ and OfficeNest—spread across multiple Class B and suburban office assets and frequently carved into multi-suite executive configurations.

Spring Valley and the Airport/Paradise corridor continue to benefit from airport-adjacent demand and institutional assets such as the UNLV Harry Reid Research & Technology Park, reinforcing their role as demand nodes for project-based tenants, medical-adjacent users and hybrid office operators.

Downtown Las Vegas, by contrast, plays a secondary role, with smaller locations and fewer flagship offerings.

“Many of the secondary markets are experiencing sustained population and economic growth, creating a natural opportunity for coworking,” Cozza observed. “We’re seeing strong demand in places where new residential development, mixed-use town centers and suburban entrepreneurship and employment hubs are taking shape.”

In these environments, people increasingly want workspaces that fit conveniently into their daily routines and are integrated into the communities where they already live and spend time. “That’s particularly true as more suburban markets evolve into true live-work-play environments,” he added.

Indianapolis

In Indianapolis, coworking has scaled into one of the most robust and institutionally balanced ecosystems among U.S. secondary coworking markets. The metro totaled 106 locations and 2.1 million square feet of coworking space in April, representing 3.8 percent of office inventory.

Downtown Indianapolis anchors the ecosystem as both an institutional flagship and an innovation hub. Large-scale allocations—including Union Campus and multiple Industrious locations—combine with Class A towers and adaptive-reuse assets to support legal, tech and professional services tenants. This evolution reflects a broader shift in coworking’s role.

“In rapidly expanding areas such as Charleston, Indianapolis and the Florida coast, coworking spaces are transforming from a service for startups into essential infrastructure,” said Kevin Jung, vice president of North America unit operations at Industrious. “This shift is driven by significant population movements, which are pushing talent further away from central corporate offices.”

North of downtown, Carmel, Ind., and the Meridian Corridor function as one of the country’s most competitive suburban coworking clusters, characterized by high-income users and a strong emphasis on private offices. Across all nodes, demand favors hybrid flex models over traditional hot-desking, reinforcing Indianapolis’ reputation as a scalable, low-volatility coworking market.

McAllen, Texas

In McAllen, coworking reflects a distinctly service-oriented model, shaped less by tech ecosystems and more by professional services, health-care and crossborder business activity. Yardi Matrix shows that the market comprised 18 locations totaling 230,000 square feet as of April, or 3.4 percent of office inventory, with demand driven primarily by small businesses and owner-operators rather than enterprise users.

Structurally, the region functions as a two-node market, with McAllen and Brownsville accounting for nearly 80 percent of coworking space. McAllen serves as the primary professional hub, marked by a concentration of executive suite operators catering to medical, legal, insurance and financial services firms. The prevalence of private offices underscores a regional preference for stability and confidentiality over open, community-oriented coworking models.

Meanwhile, Brownsville represents the market’s strongest growth opportunity. Featuring larger footprints and select institutional operators, it supports a broader mix of entrepreneurs and business service users tied to the border economy.

Reno, Nev.

Reno has emerged as a growing secondary coworking market in the Western U.S., supported by a diversified mix of downtown office conversions, suburban business parks and corridor-driven demand across Nevada’s Reno, Sparks and Carson City areas. With roughly 19 locations totaling approximately 310,000 square feet as of April—about 3.4 percent of local office inventory—the market sits at a transitional stage, balancing institutional coworking platforms with a strong presence of regional and independent operators.

Activity is concentrated in three primary corridors. Downtown Reno and the surrounding urban core form the city’s main coworking hub, anchored by larger Regus locations, Pacific Workplaces and boutique operators. Kietzke Lane and South Reno function as a secondary office corridor, hosting established executive suite providers and midsize flex spaces, while Sparks has emerged as a key growth node, led by larger-format assets and additional suburban business parks.

Carson City adds a smaller but stable layer of demand, primarily driven by executive suites and government-adjacent users, while outlying mountain and resort-adjacent locations serve niche remote-work and hybrid users.

Fort Wayne, Ind.

In Fort Wayne, coworking punches above its weight despite just seven locations totaling roughly 300,000 square feet in April, or 3.3 percent of office inventory. The market is defined by a handful of large-scale, innovation-driven projects rather than a fragmented mix of small operators.

Downtown Fort Wayne accounts for more than two-thirds of coworking space, anchored by Electric Works, a repurposed former GE campus that has become the region’s defining innovation district. Additional supply comes from mission-driven flex space tied to advanced manufacturing and product development.

Beyond the core, the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center adds another dimension. Located in the eastern submarket, it functions less as a conventional coworking model and more as mission-driven flex space tied to advanced manufacturing and product development, underscoring the region’s industrial and research-oriented economy.

The result is a stable, ecosystem-driven coworking market, where expansion remains closely linked to strategic redevelopment initiatives—an increasingly common pattern across today’s secondary coworking markets. Cities in Indiana have especially overperformed in coworking share.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The city’s coworking market functions as a highly saturated, enterprise-driven extension of South Florida, closely tied to Miami rather than operating as a standalone ecosystem. The metro had 88 locations and roughly 1.7 million square feet of coworking space as of April, accounting for 3.2 percent of total office inventory. Demand is led by finance, legal, real estate, international business and wealth management firms, resulting in a heavy skew toward executive suites and private-office formats rather than startup-oriented coworking.

Downtown Fort Lauderdale—particularly along the Las Olas corridor—anchors the market as its institutional and financial core. Large Class A towers house national operators with sizable footprints, serving a user base similar to Miami’s Brickell district at a slightly smaller scale. South of the CBD, Hollywood and Hallandale form one of the region’s densest coworking corridors, marked by a concentration of national brands catering to professional and crossborder users.

Further west, Plantation and Weston function as suburban corporate strongholds driven by insurance, health-care administration and back-office operations, while Pembroke Pines and Miramar have emerged as growth corridors attracting midsize tenants priced out of the urban core.

Operator expansion underscores Fort Lauderdale’s enterprise appeal.

“Industrious’ footprint has significantly expanded in some of these markets since the pandemic,” Demestihas noted. “Our Charleston and Fort Lauderdale locations opened in 2023 and are both in the top 20 percent of our North American portfolio, based on member counts.”