The mean home-sale rate in Santa Barbara, one of the most expensive college town in the U.S., is practically $ 2 million.
When it pertains to real estate, the most expensive university community in the U.S. is Santa Barbara, CA, home to a College of The golden state campus with regarding 26, 000 trainees. Santa Barbara’s typical home-sale price is almost $ 2 million, more than double the next-most costly college community.
Second-place Boca Raton, FL, home to Florida Atlantic College and its 30, 000 -plus students, has an average home-sale cost of greater than $ 820, 000 The two most pricey college towns in the nation have one big point alike: they’re on the coastline. That suffices to press property costs right into the air. Homebuying and rental need from professors and personnel exacerbates already high costs.
Next comes Flagstaff, AZ, where Northern Arizona University is located. It has a mean home-sale cost of just under $ 700, 000, with the area’s outside way of living and distance to the Grand Canyon pushing up costs.
2 towns in Oregon– Corvallis and Eugene, home to the state’s 2 largest colleges– are also amongst the top 10 most pricey university towns. So are two communities in Utah, Orem and Provo.
| A Lot Of Expensive University Towns, By Average Home-Sale Cost (2025 | |||
| Town | Notable college | Mean home-sale price | Mean home-sale price, YoY development |
| Santa Barbara, CA | University of California, Santa Barbara | $ 1, 964, 170 | 4 % |
| Boca Raton, FL | Florida Atlantic University | $ 822, 701 | 9 3 % |
| Flagstaff, AZ | Northern Arizona University | $ 695, 902 | 6 3 % |
| Corvallis, OR | Oregon State College | $ 568, 507 | 2 1 % |
| Orem, UT | Utah Valley University | $ 517, 224 | 6 8 % |
| Eugene, OR | College of Oregon | $ 501, 571 | 1 7 % |
| Provo, UT | Brigham Young College | $ 474, 745 | 7 9 % |
| Ann Arbor, MI | University of Michigan | $ 464, 495 | – 3 4 % |
| Manchester, NH | University of New Hampshire, Manchester and Southern New Hampshire University | $ 456, 096 | 6 9 % |
| Pullman, WA | Washington State University | $ 452, 137 | 0. 2 % |
This is from a Redfin analysis of college towns in the U.S To be considered a college town, a city’s populace have to be at the very least 10 % students at a four-year, recognized university, and it has to be at the very least 30 miles far from a metro area with a populace of more than 1 million individuals. We determined 240 university communities; the leading 50 by pupil population with at the very least 100 home sales in the appropriate period are included in this position. Average home-sale rates in this report are a heavy average from January to July.
“Home costs– and, by extension, lease– in some university towns have actually climbed so high they’re significantly out of reach for students, faculty and staff,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather “In a location like Santa Barbara or Flagstaff, high housing prices might push faculty and team to live far from university, and it additionally prevents some professors from instructing there completely. For trainees, high prices might mean they have to tackle even more debt and/or real-time far from university.”
Fairweather notes that there are methods to enhance cost for pupils, faculty and personnel. “The very best means to make real estate more budget friendly is to construct more homes, upgrade zoning laws to allow more multi-family real estate, and spend much more in trainee real estate,” she claimed. “Local property owners may oppose constructing a lot of new housing and updated zoning legislations because they believe it will certainly stagnate their home’s worth. But citizens that don’t possess a home would likely invite modifications that make real estate much more affordable for them, also.”
A lot of students don’t buy homes where they participate in university, yet pricey home-sale rates raise rental fee since landlords pass the price along to their tenants. Additionally, in some areas it prevails method for moms and dads to get homes where their child participates in university.
“A lot of investors in Utah are moms and dads getting homes for their kids in university at BYU or the University of Utah,” claimed Sam Brinton , a Redfin Premier agent in Salt Lake City, UT. “In Provo, a number of the purchases within a mile of BYU are parents purchasing for their youngsters, and potentially for their youngster’s friends, who will pay lease. They figure, why pay rent for 4 years when they can own a home and hopefully offer it later at a higher rate?”
For More Cost Effective Housing in College Towns, Want To the Corrosion Belt
There are three significant university towns where the mean home-sale cost is about $ 200, 000 or under, much less than half the nationwide mean– and all 3 of them remain in the Corrosion Belt.
The least pricey college town in the U.S. is Dayton, OH, home to two significant colleges: Wright State University and the College of Dayton, home to a consolidated ~ 22, 000 pupils. Dayton’s mean home-sale price is about $ 137, 000, making it not just the most inexpensive college town to purchase a home, but one of the least expensive places to acquire a home in the U.S., period.
Following comes Syracuse, NY, home to Syracuse College and 20, 000 -plus trainees, with a typical list price of regarding $ 170, 000 It’s followed by Mount Pleasant, MI, home to Central Michigan University, where the mean price can be found in at just over $ 200, 000
| Least Expensive College Towns, By Average Home-Sale Price (2025 | |||
| Town | Remarkable college | Typical home-sale cost | Mean home-sale cost, YoY modification |
| Dayton, OH | Wright State College and
University of Dayton |
$ 137, 261 | 7 3 % |
| Syracuse, NY | Syracuse University | $ 169, 779 | 12 1 % |
| Mount Pleasant, MI | Central Michigan College | $ 201, 768 | 7 4 % |
| Springfield, MO | Missouri State College | $ 208, 594 | 4 9 % |
| Champaign-Urbana, IL | University of Illinois | $ 237, 825 | 10 7 % |
| Lubbock, TX | Texas Technology University | $ 240, 210 | 3 1 % |
| Greenville, NC | East Carolina College | $ 247, 266 | – 1 5 % |
| Stillwater, OKAY | Oklahoma State College | $ 253, 086 | 8 4 % |
| Morgantown, WV | West Virginia University | $ 269, 154 | 2 1 % |
| Tuscaloosa, AL | College of Alabama | $ 271, 901 | 6 9 % |
University faculty, team, and trainees (and their moms and dads) do not need to cost a fortune to afford housing. Numerous college towns have median home-sale prices well under the nationwide standard.
For even more university community housing-market information, please see our roundup of statistics for the 50 largest united state academic hubs.