There are all types of apartment buildings out there. Some tower overhead and almost look like they're touching the sky. Others are squat, brick structures with just a few units.
During an apartment search, you can prioritize your ideal apartment building just as easily as you look for amenities within the actual apartment. You may want big. You may want small. You may prefer something in between.
That's when you start looking for a mid-rise apartment.
The definition of a mid-rise apartment is all about counting floors. Most mid-rise buildings have at least five floors, but no more than 12. Buildings with fewer floors are classified as low-rise apartments and those with more are high-rises. Most cities provide a combination of all three for eager apartment hunters.
The size of a mid-rise typically means you'll get an elevator, along with many amenities you'd find in larger buildings. They're often tall enough for units to have balconies and may also include common areas and green spaces on the ground floor.
You'll often find the most mid-rises in urban areas that don't allow tall, high-rise apartment buildings. However, they're easy to spot in almost any U.S. city.
Mid-rise apartments have benefits you won't find in both shorter and taller buildings. This is because they usually combine the best of both worlds.
While not towering up into the sky, a mid-rise apartment does offer superior views to a low-rise building. The extra floors provide the potential for better and wider lookouts into the surrounding area. This is especially nice if your neighborhood has lots of trees or is just close enough to water or another scenic spot to catch a glimpse from the higher floors.
Mid-rise apartments mean fewer tenants. With fewer floors and fewer people, you'll have shorter, less crowded trips up and down the elevator during peak times. You'll also have less of a wait when you push that call button.
This perk of fewer tenants that a mid-rise apartment offers also applies to the amount of privacy you get as a resident. With fewer units in total, you'll have more privacy. There won't be a barrage of people flooding in and out each day, potentially going past your front door. There are also fewer neighbors with prying eyes.
High-rise buildings just have too many floors to ever really take the stairs. With a mid-rise apartment, you can live on the upper floors and still use the stairs when it's convenient. Based on how full your hands are or what shoes you're wearing, having the option to take the stairs could mean one less trip to the gym to get a great workout.
Even as smaller buildings, mid-rise apartments can still contain many of the amenities you look for in a home. This means balconies and ground-level green space. It can also include a pool, gym, laundry room and other common areas. Your building may even be big enough to have its own parking structure, so you're not stuck hunting for a spot on the street.
Being up to 12 stories tall, a mid-rise apartment may still have you asking, “Which floor is the best?" Each level of the building has its own positive factors that may recommend it to you. It all depends on your own personal preferences.
In a smaller mid-rise, the bottom floor is really just the garden level of the building. Those buildings with a few more levels may mean the bottom consists of 1-3 stories. Regardless, living on the bottom floors provide:
You also don't have to worry about annoying a neighbor below you should you want to move furniture around, invite friends over or just tend to walk heavily.
The number of middle floors in a mid-rise building can vary based on the height of the structure, but living in the middle does have its positives, including:
In older buildings especially, the middle floors are always the best insulated. They'll stay cooler in the summer since the heat rises and warmer in the winter since they're not sitting on the cold ground. They also benefit from the units above and below running their heat and AC units at higher rates to maintain a comfortable temperature.
It's no secret that the top floors of any apartment building are always considered the best. It's why we have penthouses. This may be because of the potential for unique features like:
Top floors are also less noisy and more private. You don't have to worry about hearing anything from the person living above you, because there isn't one. Units up high are also less susceptible to pests and theft.
If this is all beginning to sound appealing to you, get a jump start on finding mid-rise apartments for rent in your area. They may offer the perfect combination of size, location and amenities for your next home.
Lesly Gregory has over 15 years of marketing experience, ranging from community management to blogging to creating marketing collateral for a variety of industries. A graduate of Boston University, Lesly holds a B.S. in Journalism. She currently lives in Atlanta with her husband, two young children, three cats and assorted fish.