Tessa Barron had her own apartment when she lived in San Francisco. What she didn’t have was a good work-life balance. With a salary she described as between $100,000 and $200,000, she could have had her own place when she moved to New York this past spring. But, eager to expand her social network, she chose to live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with a high school buddy; in June they moved with another friend to a three-bedroom apartment in nearby Bedford-Stuyvesant.

“For some people, it’s their ultimate accomplishment to have a place of their own. It’s the ultimate sense of adulthood,” Ms. Barron said. “And sometimes I have to explain to people that no, I’m not in a one-bedroom with a partition. Living with roommates was a decision to be very socially active and to emphasize that side of my life. When you live with people it’s no effort. You have experiences organically.”

“I think we push each other a little,” said Ms. Barron, 28. “I’ll run work-related things past them. If you’re seeing a guy and you have questions about the relationship, a roommate can watch your interactions and make an observation. That’s really valuable. And I’m still at an age that my parents worry. I think my living with others gives them peace of mind.”

Image Katie Kirby, right, and Jennifer Keene have teamed up in North Williamsburg. Credit... Richard Perry/The New York Times

The desire for roommates sometimes boils down to personality type. “I’m an extreme extrovert, so being around people is very important to me,” said Tami Reiss, who, despite this insight, planned on finding her own place when she moved here from Los Angeles a year and a half ago. “I was a 31-year-old adult person who had enough money, so why not?” said Ms. Reiss, a product manager at a tech consulting firm.

But because she wasn’t seeing anything amazing in a one-bedroom for what she was willing to pay ($2,500 a month) in the neighborhood she wanted (Greenwich Village), she answered an ad on Craigslist placed by Nathan Small, 29, an executive recruiter at a public relations firm who wanted to share a two-bedroom walk-up with high ceilings near Washington Square. The two clicked. Ms. Reiss now pays less than $2,000 a month. “My roommate and I are totally buddies,” she said. “We talk about the TV shows we watch, we talk about our significant others, about work stuff and the world at large.”

Ms. Reiss may actually have the best of both worlds: Because Mr. Small is often away, she frequently has the run of the place. “I was able to host a Thanksgiving for 12 and could have my parents stay here,” she said. And last Passover, 14 people came. “I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I had a place by myself, because it wouldn’t have been big enough.”