--- title: "How to split rent with roommates fairly" description: "How to split rent with roommates fairly: equal, by room size or by income, with a worked example, plus the best split rent app and how to settle up from your bank." publishedAt: "2026-11-11" updatedAt: "2026-11-12" canonicalUrl: "https://tinwell.dev/articles/how-to-split-rent-with-roommates/" --- Rent is the one bill that every roommate can calculate in their head, which is exactly why it causes the most arguments: an even split feels fair until someone realizes they pay the same for the closet-sized room. Mark Cuban, who shared a three-bedroom Dallas apartment with five roommates at 24, put the six-way split of its $2,388 rent at about $400 each, and he was the one on the floor. The good news is that there are only a few sensible ways to split rent, and once you pick one, a shared space in Era can keep the tally so nobody has to bring it up again. If you want to set that up as you read, [create your free Era account](/sign-in) and open a space for your place. ## How do you split rent fairly between roommates? Pick a rule before you argue about numbers. The usual choices are an equal split, a split by room size or features, or a split in proportion to income. Whichever you choose, agree on it in writing with everyone, apply it to the whole rent, and settle utilities and shared extras separately so the rent figure stays simple. An equal split works when the rooms are alike. A split by room size or features works when they are not, and a split by income suits housemates whose earnings differ a lot and who are happy to share that much. Mixing a rule for the room with a rule for the extras usually causes the fewest arguments. ## How do you split rent by room size? Give each room a share of the rent equal to its share of the total bedroom area, then adjust for features such as a private bathroom or a balcony. The arithmetic is short: divide each room's square footage by the total, and multiply that share by the rent. For a three-bedroom apartment with rent of $3,000, rooms of 180, 150 and 120 square feet add up to 450. The first room pays 40 percent, or $1,200, the second a third, or $1,000, and the third about 27 percent, or $800. If the largest room also has the bathroom, add a few percent to it and take the same amount off the others. ## How do you split rent by income? Add up everyone's income, work out each person's share of the total, and apply that share to the rent. It is the fairest rule when incomes differ widely, and it is also the one that needs the most trust, because everybody has to be willing to say what they earn. If two roommates earn $6,000 and $4,000 a month, they cover 60 and 40 percent of a $2,000 rent, which is $1,200 and $800. A common compromise is to split by room size and let anyone who earns much less pay a little less, which keeps the rule simple and the conversation short. ## Who pays the landlord, and who pays whom? Usually one person pays the landlord in full, and the others pay that person their share. Keep that arrangement the same every month so nobody has to ask, and check your lease for whose name it is in, because the person who pays is not always the person the landlord relies on. In Era the rent leaves the paying roommate's account, shows up in the shared space and is split by the rule you chose, so each person can see what they owe and to whom. When a roommate sends their share by Venmo, Zelle or a bank transfer, Era sees the payment in the bank feed and suggests the match that settles it. You confirm it yourself, or ask your assistant to. The walk-through is in [settle up with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal in Era](/articles/settle-up-with-venmo-zelle-or-paypal/). ## What is the best split rent app? It depends on which split you mean. Flex and Split Pay divide one tenant's rent into two payments across the month, and they pay the landlord in full. Splitwise, Tricount and Era divide a rent between roommates, and Era does it from the bank accounts they share, so rent and utilities arrive without anyone typing them in. Searching for a split rent app mostly turns up the first kind, which is a payment product: Flex says it pays your landlord upfront and you split your own rent in two, and Split Pay says it pays the landlord in full on the due date while you pay it back in two instalments. Both split one tenant's own payments rather than dividing a rent between people. Use a notebook such as Splitwise for a one-off trip and a shared space for a home. If you are choosing between notebooks, [Splitwise alternatives for couples and housemates](/articles/splitwise-alternatives/) compares them side by side. ## How do you split utilities, groceries and the deposit? Split each by what it is. Utilities and internet are usually divided equally between the people using them, groceries by who actually ate, and a deposit by the same share as the rent, so that it comes back in the same proportions when you move out. In Era you open the transaction and split it between the people it concerns, or between just the two of three roommates who ordered the takeout. The IOUs appear in a list where each person accepts or disputes theirs, and the Who owes whom view keeps a running total. For the full tour, read [splitting bills? See who owes whom in one place](/articles/splitting-bills-see-who-owes-whom/). ## Which Era template fits a shared apartment? Start with the Flat share template, which puts who owes whom, spending by category, shared transactions and recent changes in one view. If it is mostly a running tally of IOUs between friends, use Bills and IOUs. Each template is previewed with your own figures before you add it, and it begins as a draft that only you can see. Add the lease to the same space and every roommate can open it, which saves the hunt through someone's email when the landlord asks a question. The wider picture of a shared household is in [a household money dashboard with AI](/articles/household-money-dashboard-with-ai/). ## How do you keep rent fair when roommates change? Write the rule down once, and apply it again whenever someone moves in or out. A new roommate takes the room's share, anyone leaving stops sharing and leaves the space, and the history of who paid what stays in the ledger, so there is nothing to reconstruct from old messages. Era connects accounts across the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, and 40+ countries in all. ## Sources - [Business Insider on Mark Cuban's rent split](https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-split-rent-5-roommates-age-24-living-costs-2026-11), November 2026, and [Entrepreneur's report of his post](https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/before-he-was-a-billionaire-24-year-old-mark-cuban-had-5-roommates-and-lived-in-hell-hotel), 3 November 2026. - [Flex](https://getflex.com/rent) and [Split Pay](https://splitpay.com/rent), checked 12 November 2026.