Amid a steady decline in K-12 enrollment, nearly 2,000 apartments were created from former school buildings across the U.S. in 2024, according to a new report by RentCafe.
The report showed a 296% increase from 2023 to 2024 in school buildings converted into apartment complexes. Around 70% of these upcoming apartments are projected to come from cities in Ohio, Washington state and Pennsylvania, among others. The apartments are also in Washington, D.C.
Cities like Columbus, Cleveland, Seattle and Pittsburgh are projected to see the highest number of future school-to-apartment conversions, Alexandra Both, the author of the report, told The Center Square.
Columbia and Cleveland are projected to create 1,405 apartments combined.
“These typically involve older or unused school buildings that districts have closed and that cities are considering for reuse as housing,” Both told The Center Square. “Conversions of educational facilities made up 7.9% of all adaptive reuse apartments in 2024, up from just 3% the year before, making it the fastest-growing reuse category.”
The report noted that the increase in apartment conversions is tied to factors such as declining enrollment.
