Per-seat per-month USD cost cuts through every regional convention.

  • Per-seat per-month USD cost cuts through every regional convention.
  • Include base rent, op-ex, taxes, fit-out amortisation, parking — not just face rent.
  • Density assumption (sqft per seat) materially shifts the result.
  • Use the Atlas's Occupancy Cost Calculator to produce this number consistently.

How to model occupancy cost per seat

By The Class A Atlas Editorial Desk · 2025-09-01T00:00:00.000Z · 9 min read

The single most useful normalised number in office economics — how to calculate it and how to use it.

TL;DR

  • Per-seat per-month USD cost cuts through every regional convention.
  • Include base rent, op-ex, taxes, fit-out">fit-out amortisation, parking — not just face rent.
  • Density assumption (sqft per seat) materially shifts the result.
  • Use the Atlas's Occupancy Cost Calculator to produce this number consistently.

The formula

Occupancy cost per seat per month USD = (annual base rent + annual op-ex + annual taxes + annual fit-out amortised + annual parking) × FX rate / headcount / 12. The Atlas's Occupancy Cost Calculator runs this directly with city-specific defaults. The defaults can be overridden line by line.

Density matters

120 sqft per seat is the global Class A default. 150 sqft per seat is the executive average. 80 sqft per seat is the activity-based / fully hot-desked floor. A 10,000 sqft floor at 100 sqft/seat is 100 seats. At 130 sqft/seat it is 77 seats. Same rent — 30% different per-seat cost. Pick the density that matches your operating model and stress-test it.

Editorial provenance

Reviewed by Class A Atlas Editorial Desk — House byline · global editorial team. Last updated 2026-04-01. See our methodology and editorial standards.

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