New York's mayor Michael Bloomberg launches 'micro apartments' plan The project is slated to respond to the changing demographics of a city where 1.8 million households are composed of one or two people, but there are only one million studios and one-room apartments, the mayor's office said. Current standards in New York require that most new apartments be at least 400 square feet. But rental costs in the Big Apple are increasingly expensive. In Manhattan, a studio cost an average $2,243 per month in May in a building without concierge, up 7.9 percent from the previous year, and $2,657 in a building with concierge, up 4.4 percent, according to the Manhattan Rental Market Report. A one-room apartment cost about $2,959 without concierge, up 6.2 percent from 2011, and $3,777 with concierge, up 6.8 percent in a year.