Coastal College Towns Among the Most Expensive

The most expensive college town in the United States is Santa Barbara, California, where it is more than twice as costly to live than the second-most expensive college town, Boca Raton, Florida. This is according to a new report from Redfin, which evaluated residential real estate prices in the 50 largest college towns across the country.

The median home sale price in Santa Barbara, home of the University of California at Santa Barbara, is nearly $2 million, according to the report. In second-place Boca Raton, home to Florida Atlantic University, the median home sale price is more than $820,000. Both towns are close to the beach, which creates homebuying and rental demand that pushes already high real estate prices even higher, said Redfin.

With a median home sale price of just under $700,000, Flagstaff, Arizona, where Northern Arizona University is located, is the third most-expensive college town. The area’s outdoor lifestyle and proximity to the Grand Canyon push prices higher.In Oregon, two towns rank among the top 10 most expensive college towns – Corvallis in fourth and Eugene in sixth. Oregon State University is located in Corvallis, where the median home price is nearly $570,000, and the University of Oregon is located in Eugene, where the median home price is just over $500,000.

Two towns in Utah are also among the most expensive. Orem, home of Utah Valley University, ranks fifth with a median home sale price of $517,000, and Provo, home of Brigham Young University, ranks seventh with a median home price of $475,000.

The top 10 also included Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a median price of $465,000, Manchester, New Hampshire, at $456,000, and Pullman, Washington, at $452,000.

“Home prices—and, by extension, rent—in some college towns have climbed so high they’re increasingly out of reach for students, faculty and staff,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “In a place like Santa Barbara or Flagstaff, high housing costs may push faculty and staff to live far from campus, and it also deters some professors from teaching there altogether. For students, high costs may mean they have to take on more debt and/or live far from campus.”

The best way to make housing more affordable in college towns is to build more homes, update zoning laws to allow more multifamily housing, and invest more in student housing, said Fairweather.

On the other end of the spectrum, many Rust Belt markets offer more affordable housing near colleges. The least expensive college town in the United States is Dayton, Ohio, which is home to Wright State University and the University of Dayton. A median home is priced at roughly $137,000 in Dayton.

Syracuse, New York, is the second most affordable college town with median home prices coming in around $170,000, followed by Mount Pleasant, Michigan, home to Central Michigan University, where the median sale price is just under $200,000.

Other affordable college towns include Springfield, Missouri; Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; Lubbock, Texas; Greenville, North Carolina; Stillwater, Oklahoma; Morgantown, West Virginia; and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.