In 2021, 18% of Canadians aged 20 to 29 were living with people outside their immediate family, with roommate households among the fastest-growing household types for young adults.
The math makes sense. One rent payment becomes two or three, and the same goes for the internet bill, the hydro bill and, depending on your household philosophy, that Costco-sized package of toilet paper.
Sharing a home creates a micro-economy of its own, with considerations on more than just splitting rent. Does the person with a bigger bedroom pay more? Is it a 50/50 split on all utilities, even if someone runs a side hustle doing campus laundry? Is dish soap public or private?
In any economy, including a micro one, the money systems are what make it work.
Living alone is a dream many young people can’t afford.
Privacy is nice, but it doesn’t beat being able to afford groceries. For a growing number of younger Canadians, sharing a home is a necessity. Between 2001 and 2021, the number of roommate households in Canada grew by 54%, making it the country’s fastest-growing household type.
For students, the numbers make the appeal pretty obvious. Kailey McCarthy knows this trade-off firsthand.1 She’s a student completing an internship at Vancity, and she shares a home and some of its expenses with roommates. Kailey’s living situation is almost par for the course among students trying to balance school, work, and the cost of living.
The average Canadian undergraduate paid $7,734 in tuition for the 2025/26 school year. Meanwhile, the average asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment in a Canadian metro area hit $1,740 a month in early 2026. Even splitting a two-bedroom with someone else still costs the average renter more than $1,000 a month nationally.
When you factor in groceries, textbooks, transit, phone bills, and all the other expenses that just keep coming, it’s impressive how well young Canadians have adapted. Sharing apartments or homes and splitting cartons of increasingly expensive eggs is a strategy that seems to work.
Fair’s fair, until it’s not.
Search Reddit for advice on splitting rent, and you’ll discover that dividing it by the number of roommates isn’t the most popular school of thought. Splitting rent between roommates by u/JimboJonesingIt in personalfinance
Should a couple sharing one bedroom pay the same as two people with bedrooms of their own? Should the person with the ensuite pay more? Or what about the roommate whose partner is around so often that they’ve become an additional roommate?
One Reddit user says, “Divide the rent in half: 50% is for public space, 50% is for private space.”
Another says, “Five roommates: rent and utilities get split five ways. Seniority rules. Whoever found the place and signed the lease gets the master bedroom and bath.”
The general consensus is that, whenever it’s possible, roommates should have the money chat either before moving in together or, ideally, before resentment sets in.
“Bring up money before you’re frustrated,” says Jen Underwood, a Wealth Advisor at Vancity and Aviso Wealth. “But if you find you’re already annoyed, try not to bring emotion into the conversation. Be logical, calm, and clear about what’s causing your frustration. Come to the talk with potential solutions.”
Kailey and her roommates figured everything out by getting specific about what they actually wanted to share.
“We created a spreadsheet in which we tracked all of our shared expenses,” she says. “For shared household items, we divided the cost or had one person buy something, and then everyone sent their share. But for things like groceries, we keep them separated since everyone has different habits and preferences.”
Sometimes the question of fairness can go beyond who uses what. Jen says roommates with significantly different incomes could also consider dividing shared expenses proportionally.
“If one person gets paid less than the other, then set up a budget together where each person pays a percentage of the joint expenses,” says Jen. “This would be based on the percentage of the total household income that each person contributes. That way you each pay what is fair or equitable to each.”
Of course, no formula can decide what feels fair for every household. That still comes down to the people living in it.
“Don’t be afraid to talk about money and boundaries,” says Kailey. “It can feel uncomfortable at first, but avoiding the conversation can increase tension later. Be clear about expectations and don’t assume everyone has the same budget as you do.”
The financial systems at the core of a household’s micro-economy.
Every roommate household eventually develops an operating system. It can be a spreadsheet to track expenses like Kailey and her roommates use. Or maybe it’s a shared expense app. Sometimes, the system might be an increasingly chaotic group chat full of messages about who paid the hydro bill last, and who ate whose granola.
Whether you put a system in place intentionally or one develops organically, it exists for a reason. If we think of the household as a micro-economy, then the financial systems in place help shapes how that household will run. Intentional systems help things run smoothly. Clear rules and expectations can do wonders for healthy relationships.
Intentional systems, like a shared spreadsheet, do something human memory isn’t particularly good at: they give everyone the same version of events.
A levelled-up roommate micro-economy comes with reserves.
Once a household has figured out who pays for the internet, there’s another level of roommate finance: the emergency fund.
It sounds unusually official for a group of people who may still be negotiating whose turn it is to take out the recycling. But the logic is similar to the emergency fund you might be building for yourself.
Jen has seen one solution: give the household its own rainy-day fund.
“I always recommend an emergency fund,” says Jen. “If roommates can set up one for the house while they are living there and allocate money to it every payday from each person, that is a great way to cover unexpected bills.”
In some ways, it starts to resemble a strata. Everyone contributes to a shared reserve while they live there, and when something belonging to the household needs replacing, or an unusually large bill arrives, there’s already money set aside for it.
Of course, even micro-economies have to consider governance. What counts as an emergency? Who gets to decide when the money is spent? And, perhaps most importantly, what happens to your $86.42 when you move out?
Jen suggests keeping a running record of everyone’s contributions so departing roommates can be paid back, and new roommates can start contributing when they move in.
The household emergency fund may be more infrastructure than every roommate arrangement needs. But it points to something interesting about the way shared finances can evolve. A group of roommates starts out splitting the rent. Then, before long, they may have a spreadsheet, recurring payments, rules about groceries, and the beginnings of a contingency reserve fund.
None of this makes housing any cheaper. But it does show how young Canadians are adapting to an expensive reality: sharing costs, building systems, and figuring out versions of “fair” that work for the people actually paying the bills.
The roommate micro-economy might not always run perfectly. Someone will probably still be late with the rent or forget to pay a hydro bill. But when the financial systems work, there’s a little less money admin to think about, and a little more room to simply live together.
Questions about splitting rent, groceries, or household bills? Our Vancity advisor can help with your budget, in person or virtually.
FAQs
What’s the fairest way to split rent with roommates?
Many households split rent equally, but that’s not always the fairest option. If bedrooms are different sizes or one roommate has extra features like an ensuite bathroom or parking, adjusting each person’s share may make more sense.
How should roommates split utility bills?
Utilities like electricity, internet, water, and gas are usually divided equally unless everyone agrees on another arrangement.
Should roommates share groceries?
That depends on your household. Some roommates split groceries and cook together, while others buy their own food and only share essentials like cleaning supplies and toilet paper. The key is agreeing on expectations from the start.
What’s the best app for splitting bills?
There are several apps designed for shared expenses, such as Splitwise, that help track who paid for what and calcuate balances automatically. Some people also use shared spreadsheets or notes. The best system is the one your household will actually keep updated.
What should you do if a roommate doesn’t pay their share?
Start with a conversation. Sometimes it’s simply a forgotten payment or a temporary financial challenge. If late payments become a pattern, revisit your household agreement and discuss expectations before resentment builds.
How can living with roommates help you save money?
Sharing rent, utilities, and household expenses can significantly reduce your monthly housing costs. The money you save can go toward building an emergency fund, paying down debt, or saving for future goals like travel, school, or buying a home.
1. Some names have been anonymized.
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