An influx of young adults has turned metro Denver’s rental market red hot. But the smaller units those renters covet are also the hardest to find, according to data from Apartment List.

Slightly more than a fourth of queries on the rental search engine are for studios, but only 6 percent of available listings in metro Denver on the site reflect that kind of housing.

“They are looking for studios, but can’t find them,” said John Kobs, CEO and founder of Apartment List, a San Francisco-based start-up. “There is a huge mismatch in the market.”

Studios and their lower rents appeal in particular to 18- to 36-year-olds who haven’t started families and would rather avoid having roommates.

Out of 1,986 units in metro Denver listed for rent on the website, only 114 were studios. Yet in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder and Denver counties, studios account for about a quarter of all searches made.

Broomfield and Douglas are exceptions, with two- and three-bedroom units more popular. Jefferson County searches are more evenly split.

Laden with heavier college debts and lacking the savings now needed to purchase a home, young adults are more likely to rent. And while more fiscally conservative, many, if they can afford it, seem willing to accept the trade-off of a more cramped and pricier space it it allows them to be closer to where the action is.

Among the most searched metro neighborhoods are Speer, Stapleton, Chaffee Park, Highland and Capitol Hill, according to Apartment List.

Developers are aware of the higher demand for efficiency units, which are being included in the mix within the more than 70 multi-family communities planned or under construction, said Nancy Burke, vice president of government and community affairs with the Apartment Association of Metro Denver.

But labor shortages are hampering construction, she said. And 20-somethings are on a collision course for limited urban space with retiring adults leaving their suburban manses, she said.

For the first time since 1947, baby boomers — those born from 1946 to 1964 — no longer hold the most populous age. Twenty-two-year-olds now claim that title, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Just as it did during the 1970s, metro Denver is winning more than its fair share of “young blood.” Kobs attributes that to some of the strongest growth of any metro area in higher paying jobs.

About 45 percent of the jobs being created in metro Denver pay $30 or more an hour, compared to 38 percent nationally, he said.

That is drawing young workers starting their careers and the resulting influx has put a premium on tiny spaces.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, as the recession was deepening, the per-square-foot cost to rent an efficiency unit in Denver County was comparable to that of a one-bedroom, according to the Denver Metro Apartment Vacancy & Rent Survey.

In the first three months of this year, it cost $1.72 a square foot to rent an efficiency, compared with $1.41 a square for a one-bedroom.

Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410, asvaldi@denverpost.com or twitter.com/aldosvaldi