The 10 most expensive college towns in America
The cost of attaining a higher education — and the burdensome debt that many take on to afford it — has long been a subject of concern in the United States.
Seventy-one percent of currently and previously enrolled American university students with student loans say that they’ve delayed other life events, including buying a home, due to the financial pressure caused by their debt, according to the Lumina Foundation-Gallup State of Higher Education 2024 study.
The same study revealed that more than half of all people without university degrees cited the cost of attending college as a barrier to obtaining further education. Nearly a third of current college students who have debated pausing their education point to the expense of attending school as a reason.
The expense of tuition and fees is challenging enough on its own, but for many students the costs rise even higher when taking into account their living situations. Years of renting an apartment, especially in an expensive city, can add to the mounting debt that many students face.
A recent analysis from Evernest, a property management company, revealed the cities and towns where living off campus is most expensive for college students. The study took into account the cost of living, average public transportation cost, median rent near universities, and searches for apartments near universities to determine their rankings.
Click through to read which college towns are the most expensive for students. You can also read about the most expensive colleges and universities in the US here.
Providence, Rhode Island
Notable Colleges: Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design
Cost of Living: $1,628
Median Rent Near University: $2,400
Boston, Massachusetts
Notable Colleges: Harvard University, Boston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cost of Living: $1,455
Median Rent Near University: $3,000
Santa Barbara, California
Notable Colleges: University of California Santa Barbara
Cost of Living: $1,166
Median Rent Near University: $4,600
Berkeley, California
Notable Colleges: University of California Berkeley
Cost of Living: $1,691
Median Rent Near University: $2,400
New Haven, Connecticut
Notable Colleges: Yale University
Cost of Living: $1,500
Median Rent Near University: $3,400
Stanford, California
Notable Colleges: Stanford
Cost of Living: $1,550
Median Rent Near University: $4,200
San Francisco, California
Notable Colleges: San Francisco State University
Cost of Living: $1,557
Median Rent Near University: $3,500
New York, New York
Notable Colleges: Columbia University, New York University
Cost of Living: $1,670
Median Rent Near University: $3,100
Los Angeles, California
Notable Colleges: University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California
Cost of Living: $1,321
Median Rent Near University: $4,400
Princeton, New Jersey
Notable Colleges: Princeton University
Cost of Living: $1,610
Median Rent Near University: $4,200