Seems like every day a housing study comes along that shows the Bay Area breaking records. (Probably because this is, in fact, an everyday occurrence at this point.) This time, apartment search site RadPad conducted a survey of the 50 most expensive US colleges to rent an apartment near.
Right at the top of the class: Stanford, which RadPad listings indicate runs an average of $5,165 dollars/month for a two-bedroom apartment (RadPad assumes you need a roommate in college, which given the cost of living near Stanford is probably a good bet) within one mile of campus.
Note that yesterday’s Rent v Buy survey by Trulia indicates that the average price of renting (for all types of housing) in the unincorporated Stanford area is $7,641 and that the average home there costs over $2.95 million. It’s hardly surprising this would be a tough town for kids on a budget (even though, technically, it’s not a town at all).
According to Tuition Tracker, even attending class at Stanford is liable to run you over $58,000 for the year, and of course anyone who moves further away from that one-mile zone near campus finds themselves in Palo Alto, where the $6,310 median rent overall is only a marginal relief.
UCLA comes in at number two on the RadPad list ($4,607 for a two-bedroom apartment), followed by the NoPa-based University of San Francisco, where you and your roommate who never washes the dishes and attends poly-sci lectures in his workout clothes will be splitting $4,100 between you to live within a mile of the campus.
UC Berkeley came in at number 13 on the list, priced at $3,743. S
Santa Clara University splits the list, ranking at number 25 with $2,870.
The usual caveats about any housing study apply, including that, in this case, RadPad extrapolates exclusively from the listings on their own site. Right now there are only 11 two-bedroom apartments listed in the Stanford/Palo Alto area, so the sample size may have been pretty small.
The USF numbers were generated from a pool of about 60 listings, and RadPad lists 113 two-bedroom apartments citywide, altogether averaging over $5,000 a month.
Incidentally, the bottom of the list belongs to Massachusetts-based Tufts University, which, despite being the fourth most expensive private school in the country, would run you and your roommate only $2,300 a month to live down the block.
- 50 Most Expensive Colleges To Rent [RadPad]
- Rent v Buy [Curbed SF]
- Stanford Sticker Price [Tuition Tracker]
- Private Colleges With Highest Sticker Price [US News]
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