An American studio apartment is essentially a hotel room with kitchenette. It has only two doors, one for the bathroom and one to the exterior. Thanks to fire codes, it will usually have at least one escapable window.
While it isn't the lowest tier of city housing, it is the smallest type of apartment with significant supply in the US. Dormitories aren't tremendously common away from university campuses, and communal barracks are uncommon outside of the older military bases--where they are generally mothballed until a particular need arises for large quantities of temporary housing.
Perhaps you're not familiar with American apartment terminology or I'm missing something? A studio apartment is as cheap as you can get normally.
what's cheaper than a studio?
For example, where I live [1] a studio is $1,700 but one room in a 3br is $1,100.
Unless you're strongly introverted, and/or suffer from social anxiety, having roommates is a great way to a) meet new people and b) save lots of money.
Not everyone is a student anymore.
(We've lived in four places since getting married, one without housemates and the other three with. We've definitely preferred the latter.)
The "best" deal I've found in LA is when you have a partner and can split the one-bedroom with them.
Having roommates! Rent a victorian with a few roommates in West Oakland. One train stop to San Francisco, way less than 3k a month.
Many in this thread seem flabbergasted that a studio would be expensive or could ever be cheap, it's probably based on whatever market they're used to.
Well, that was uncalled for. I’m willing to bet a paycheck that someone named “Nikolae” lives in a place where “studio” might have a meaning different than it does in the U. S. And so they wonder why you’d live in such an expensive place if you’re trying to save, whereas in the U. S. a studio is the bottom tier of apartment inventory.