According to Apartment Advisor, a Cambridge-based apartment-hunting platform, the current average rent for a studio apartment in Boston is $2,350, while a one-bedroom apartment costs $2,750. The more bedrooms you add, the more the average price drops: about $1,700 per person for a two-bedroom and $1,400 per person for a three-bedroom.

That equation is becoming increasingly attractive to many young Bostonians as the housing market is brutal for both owners and renters. Boston Pads, an online real estate marketplace, said in a February report that renters across the city “seem to be gravitating toward shared spaces where they can lower their overall cost of living, rather than renting a smaller unit at a higher price.”

While living with a larger group of people is more affordable, it also presents challenges for some.

Hunsen said he pays about $1,000 a month for rent and utilities, giving him more disposable income than if he lived with fewer roommates.

“Hygiene has been a difficult thing for us,” said Hunsen. “We’ve tried several times to set up a work schedule and have conversations about shared responsibility for cleaning, but it’s six people who don’t know each other and live together. There’s no responsibility structure or relationship that holds everything together.”

He said he doesn’t want to live with so many roommates forever. But he’s not sure he has any other choice.

“I really don’t know if I can afford my own apartment in this city,” he said, noting that even moving into an apartment with only two or three roommates “would be more expensive than I would like.”

In Brookline, Sarah Rouse, a 25-year-old human resources employee, lives with four roommates in a five-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment for which she pays about $1,150 a month in rent and utilities. Her landlord also lives on the property, but in a different part of the house with a separate entrance.

She said she moved to Boston from Rhode Island in 2021 so she could be closer to her job. Boston is so expensive that her one-bedroom apartment in Rhode Island plus the cost of long commute, was still cheaper than their current solution.

“There are definitely a lot of different personalities in the house, but we all try our best to get along and share the chores and cleaning duties,” Rouse said. “But it gets difficult and it gets chaotic with five people trying to fit all their stuff into one room.”

None of the roommates knew each other before they met through a Facebook group while looking for an apartment. Rouse said she would “love” living with fewer roommates, especially since finding enough storage space for everyone has been a big struggle.

“I don’t even have a whole refrigerator compartment to myself,” she said. “I bought a mini fridge so I can keep my food cool.”

Rouse said she spends about 30 percent of her income on rent, leaving her with enough money to Grab a coffee in the morning, go out to eat with friends, and generally live comfortably.

“I would rather have a richer social life and use my apartment only for sleeping than a really nice apartment with fewer roommates,” she said.

Neil Eustice, a real estate agent at Prime Realty in Brighton, said young people living with three, four or more rather than just one or two roommates is the natural consequence of rising rental prices. Since potential homeowners can’t afford to buy, they rent for longer, reducing the number of rental properties. With higher demand for what’s left, rental prices rise and people seek out more affordable homes with more bedrooms.

“This leads to the problem of overcrowding,” he said.

Not everyone finds living with many roommates a negative experience.

Some have adapted to this and are practicing “co-living,” a housing model in which people intentionally share living spaces and work to build a small community among residents. One such group is a nine-member housing cooperative near Union Square in Somerville whose members have been dubbed “The Forbidden Zone.” The residents range in age from 24 to 31 and include one married couple.

The Forbidden Zone attempts to create camaraderie among roommates, with weekly meetings to discuss problems with the house, evening family dinners (a recent Monday meal attended by a Globe reporter featured fried noodles and sweet and sour tofu), communal bookshelves, and a cluttered whiteboard with everyone’s cooking and cleaning tasks for the week.

On average, rent for a single room is about $927, while multiple people sleeping in shared rooms pay about $667. Groceries, paid for jointly, cost between $30 and $60 per week per person.

“Affordability is not the main factor for living here, but it is a really nice advantage,” said Mehitabel Glenhaber, 26, a museum educator at the Paul Revere House in Boston’s North End. “I can live close to home and do things I couldn’t do otherwise.”

Glenhaber, who previously shared a bedroom, said the arrangement worked well, noting that she and her roommate had compatible sleep schedules and enjoyed keeping each other company at the end of the day.

“When I moved into this house, I wasn’t working full-time and couldn’t afford the rent for a single room,” Glenhaber said. “It’s no better than living in your own room, but in 21st century Boston, that’s a huge luxury.”

Madison Hahamy can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @MHahamy.