HomeUnion Identifies the 20 Most Expensive College Towns for Off-Campus Renters
UCLA and Stanford University top 2017's list for the second consecutive year
IRVINE, Calif., Aug 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HomeUnion, an online residential real estate investment management firm, has released a list of the college towns with the most expensive off-campus rents. To create the list, HomeUnion analyzed the median rent within a two-mile radius of university's campus and compared it to the metro area's market-rate rent. Colleges with enrollment of 15,000 students or higher were included in the study, which also examines some of the least-expensive towns for off-campus student housing.
For the second year in a row, rents within a two-mile radius of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Stanford University are the highest in the nation. Rents within two miles of UCLA topped out at $5,158 per month, compared to the market rent of $2,785 per month, 85.2 percent above market. Near Stanford, in the heart of the Silicon Valley, median rents are $6,066 per month, or 68.3 percent above the market rent of $3,605 in the area. Rents near Georgetown University are the third-highest in the nation: Students pay $3,433 per month around Georgetown's District of Columbia campus, 60 percent above market rents of $2,145.
"With many students returning to campus this month and in early September, we wanted to alert them and their families to the most expensive college campuses in the country," explains Steve Hovland, director of research for HomeUnion. "Tuition for many institutions of higher learning is soaring, forcing students and their families to opt to reside in single-family rentals (SFRs) and other living situations off-campus. To minimize living expenses, students can rent properties further than two miles from campus or choose to have roommates in a rental home. This study illustrates where living near campus is disproportionately more expensive than the market as a whole, and off-campus housing may eat into their college savings," Hovland adds.
Here's a list of the college towns with the most expensive off-campus rents:
| Location/Metro |
University |
Median Rent |
% Above Market |
| Westwood/Los Angeles |
University of California, Los Angeles |
$5,158 |
85.2% |
| Stanford, Calif./San Jose |
Stanford University |
$6,066 |
68.3% |
| Georgetown/Washington, D.C. |
Georgetown University |
$3,433 |
60.0% |
| CBD/Washington, D.C. |
George Washington University |
$3,417 |
59.3% |
| East Lansing, Mich. |
Michigan State University |
$1,715 |
58.6% |
| Coral Gables, Fla./Miami |
University of Miami |
$3,097 |
47.0% |
| West Chester, Pa./Philadelphia |
West Chester University of Pennsylvania |
$2,292 |
46.8% |
| Irvine, Calif./Orange County |
University of California, Irvine |
$4,372 |
43.4% |
| Berkeley, Calif./Oakland |
University of California, Berkeley |
$4,134 |
34.2% |
| Boca Raton, Fla./West Palm Beach |
Florida Atlantic University |
$2,786 |
34.1% |
| Davis, Calif./Sacramento |
University of California, Davis |
$2,499 |
33.1% |
| University District/Seattle |
University of Washington |
$3,126 |
32.3% |
| Chapel Hill, N.C. |
UNC Chapel Hill |
$1,843 |
31.9% |
| Amherst, Mass. |
University of Massachusetts |
$2,465 |
31.7% |
| Richardson, Texas/Dallas |
University of Texas at Dallas |
$2,133 |
30.1% |
| Cambridge, Mass./Boston |
Harvard University |
$3,352 |
29.9% |
| Back Bay/Boston |
Northeastern University |
$3,223 |
24.9% |
| Back Bay/Boston |
Boston University |
$3,198 |
24.0% |
| Columbus, Ohio |
Ohio State University |
$1,649 |
23.0% |
| South End/Boston |
University of Massachusetts at Boston |
$3,127 |
21.2% |
| Source: HomeUnion Research Services |
SOURCE HomeUnion
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