I wasn’t able to view my apartment in person before signing the lease. Go ahead and laugh, tsk or shake a disapproving finger. The result was a place closer to 400 square feet than the originally billed 600. It doesn’t really matter because anyone who resides in the Northeast is likely to live in a space where the square footage is well below the national average, anyway.

According to recent data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, the average square footage for units for rent in a multifamily home – which, among apartments, includes the likes of flats, duplexes and townhouses – in the Northeast is 1,026. Not only is the nationwide average higher than that (1,082 square feet), it’s below each of the three other general regions (Midwest, South and West).

The Bureau’s report is part of it’s sweeping Survey of Construction, which compares regional statistics across the four regions in terms of multifamily and single-family housing units. Rental units in the Midwest are highest on average with 1,136 square feet, followed by the South at 1,089 and finally the West with 1,064.

Lucky for us, average rental prices were not listed in this particular dataset. I think we can all agree we’ve had enough with the Northeast’s, and Boston’s in particular, costs.

Tread carefully if you opt to comb through the data yourself, though. The Bureau note’s that this isn’t 100 percent accurate stuff, but close enough. “These estimates are based on sample surveys and may differ from statistics which would have been obtained from a complete census using the same schedules and procedures.”

Now, I’m not trying to discourage anyone from moving to the Northeast or make you doubt the roots you planted here. But living in this corner of the country is tough enough when the general cost of living towers over the rest of the nation’s.

Perhaps living in overpriced and undersized units privy to a bevy of lucrative amenities is worth a little cabin fever.