How to Find Shared Office Space for a Startup: Five Steps

To find shared office space as a startup, work through five steps: count desks and set a monthly ceiling, pick your subway lines and visit three shared floors, read the agreement, check that sharing is still the cheaper route, and know the step up before you need it. In Manhattan a desk runs roughly $800 to $1,400 a month with furniture, internet and cleaning included. For a team under about 15 people, that usually costs less than a private office once everything a lease requires is counted. Past about 20 people it usually costs more.

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Updated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group

Step one: count desks and set a monthly ceiling

Count the people who will be in on the busiest day, then add the hires you have already signed. Multiply by the desk price. Eight desks at $800 to $1,400 come to $6,400 to $11,200 a month, and that range is your budget question in one line.

Where you land in the range depends on the kind of seat. A hot desk, where you take any open seat, sits at the bottom. A dedicated desk costs more, and a private room on the shared floor prices each seat above an open desk.

Step two: pick the lines, then visit three floors

Write down each person's home station and choose the two subway lines that shorten the most commutes. Then visit three shared floors near those lines on a working weekday, while the space is in full use. Compare them on the same four points:

Meeting rooms: the hours your membership includes, what extra hours cost, and whether a room is actually free at ten on a Tuesday.
Hours: whether members can get in at night and on weekends, and whether the air conditioning runs then.
What is bundled: internet, printing, mail, guest passes, phone booths and coffee, and which of them is billed separately.
Room to add desks: whether the operator can seat your next three hires beside the team or across the building.

Step three: read the agreement, starting with three terms

A shared office agreement is usually a membership or a license, which carries fewer rights than a lease. Three terms decide most of what can go wrong.

Notice: the number of days you must give to leave, and whether the agreement renews by itself if you miss the window.
Price increases: when the operator may raise the rate, and whether there is any limit.
Deposit: the amount, what may be deducted, and the date it comes back.

If a term is unclear, have the company's attorney confirm it before you sign. Lease vs rent explains how the rights differ.

Step four: check that shared is still the cheaper option

Below about 15 people it usually is, because a private office adds furniture, internet, cleaning, a deposit and a term. Above about 20 it usually is not: desks are priced by head, a lease is priced by area, and the area each person needs shrinks as a team shares rooms. Between 15 and 20 the two specific offers decide it. Coworking, sublease or a private HQ lays the options side by side.

Step five: know the step up before you need it

The step up from a shared office is a furnished private floor: your own door, desks and wiring already in place, and move-in two to four weeks after signing on a lease that starts at about 12 months. The floors below are the furnished and pre-built ones on our book. Nomad does not operate shared space. When you reach this step, on your search, we work for you, and in most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee.

Furnished and prebuilt floors available now

Live from our listings · 6 of the 24, cheapest first

24 floors we list are furnished or prebuilt, so a team can move in without running its own buildout. They run from 2,500 to 19,097 square feet, asking $44 to $135 per square foot per year.

Floors: 24
Sizes: 2,500-19,097 sq ft
Asking rent: $44-$135 / sq ft

All 24 furnished and move-in-ready floors →

The full guide

This page is the short answer. The long one, with the numbers worked through, is here:

What does one desk in a shared office cost per month in Manhattan?

Roughly $800 to $1,400, all in. Operators set their own rates and change them often, so get a written quote for the exact membership, including any setup fee, and compare that figure, not the advertised one.

Is a shared office cheaper than a private office for a team of ten?

Usually, yes. Ten desks cost $8,000 to $14,000 a month with everything included. A private office for ten needs about 1,750 rentable square feet, and on top of its rent you pay for electricity, internet and cleaning, buy furniture unless it comes furnished, and post a deposit.

Which clause in a shared office agreement do startups miss most often?

Automatic renewal. An agreement that renews unless you give notice inside a set window can hold you for another period at a new price. Find the window, put the date in a calendar, and ask your attorney to confirm how notice must be delivered.

What should a startup do when it outgrows its shared office?

Price a furnished floor before the desks run out. Send headcount, timing and budget, and a first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours. The furnished floors page shows each candidate with its size and asking rent.

Talk to a broker

Want this answered for your team?

Tell us three things: team size, timing, budget. A first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours, with the asking rent on every floor that publishes one.

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