DENVER – August 24, 2015 – Students for most major universities and colleges are either already back on campus or will be back soon. While many students live in dorms, those who venture out to share private houses get more space and privacy but usually at a higher cost. In cities that are home to large schools that are part of major athletic conferences, rents for 3-bedroom houses average $1416, up 6.6% from a year ago. The national average 3-bedroom house rented for $1329, up 6.1% from a year ago.

The PAC 12 was the only conference that posted rental increases in every city of the past year. It also had the highest average rent increase of 11.3% and the highest average rent of $2238. It wins RentRange’s “least affordable” conference title.

At the other end of the scale, the Southeastern Conference wins the “most affordable” conference title with average rents of just $1129 and a year-over-year increase of just 5.9%.

PAC 12 Conference

Stanford in the PAC 12 is the major university with the most expensive rental housing with an average rent of $4508 for 3-bedroom houses in Palo Alto (see table below). The PAC 12 also includes the University of Washington in Seattle, where rents jumped 34.5% in the last year.

PAC 12 School	Location	3BR Rent	%ch yr. ago
U. OF WASHINGTON	SEATTLE	2,332	34.5%
STANFORD UNIVERSITY	PALO ALTO	4,508	14.0%
U. OF COLORADO	BOULDER	2,309	13.5%
OREGON STATE	CORVALLIS	1,488	10.5%
UC-BERKELEY	BERKELEY	3,544	9.1%
UCLA	LOS ANGELES	2,705	9.0%
ARIZONA STATE	TEMPE	1,384	8.4%
U. OF OREGON	EUGENE	1,288	6.3%
U. OF UTAH	SALT LAKE CITY	1,313	5.4%
U. OF ARIZONA	TUCSON	1,123	0.9%
PAC 12 CONFERENCE AVERAGE		$2,238	11.3%

Source: RentRange.com

Southeastern Conference

In the SEC, Vanderbilt University had the highest average rent ($1502) as well as the largest increase over the past year (22.3%). The University of Alabama had the lowest average rent ($1003) as well as the great decline in rent (-5.0%).

SEC School	Location	3BR Rent	%ch yr. ago
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY	NASHVILLE	1,502	22.3%
U. OF MISSISSIPPI	OXFORD	1,213	14.4%
U. OF KENTUCKY	LEXINGTON	1,101	11.7%
U. OF GEORGIA	ATHENS	1,011	8.9%
U. OF TENNESSEE	KNOXVILLE	1,035	6.3%
TEXAS A & M	COLLEGE STATION	1,377	6.3%
U. OF ARKANSAS	FAYETTEVILLE	1,163	5.8%
U. OF SOUTH CAROLINA	COLUMBIA	1,060	5.4%
LOUISIANA STATE	BATON ROUGE	1,220	4.1%
U. OF MISSOURI	COLUMBIA	1,104	1.8%
U. OF FLORIDA	GAINESVILLE	1,205	1.3%
U. OF ALABAMA	TUSCALOOSA	1,003	-5.9%
SEC CONFERENCE AVERAGE		$1,129	5.9%

Source: RentRange.com

Atlantic Coast Conference

The ACC stretches from Florida State to the south to Boston College and Syracuse University to the north. Rents for 3-bedroom houses listed for rent in July average $1264, up 4.7% from a year ago – both figures below the national and major-school city averages. But rents in Chestnut Hill – home to Boston College — averaged $2,828 while rents in Pittsburgh climbed 9.8% over the past year.

ACC School	Location	3BR Rent	%ch yr. ago
U. OF PITTSBURGH	PITTSBURGH	$1,147	9.8%
WEST VIRGINIA UNIV.	MORGANTOWN	1,142	7.6%
U. OF NORTH CAROLINA	CHAPEL HILL	1,509	7.0%
U.OF NOTRE DAME	SOUTH BEND	794	6.4%
BOSTON COLLEGE	CHESTNUT HILL	2,828	6.3%
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY	WINSTON SALEM	990	6.1%
DUKE UNIVERSITY	DURHAM	1,246	5.3%
U. OF VIRGINIA	CHARLOTTESVILLE	1,446	5.3%
FLORIDA STATE	TALLAHASSEE	1,092	4.1%
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY	SYRACUSE	1,085	3.0%
U. OF LOUISVILLE	LOUISVILLE	988	2.2%
GEORGIA TECH	ATLANTA	1,055	-3.4%
ACC CONFERENCE AVERAGE		$1,264	4.7%

Source: RentRange.com

Big 10 conference

Rents for 3-bedroom houses in Big 10 cities averaged $1346, slightly above the US average but grew only by 4.6%. Michigan State Spartans seeking house rentals got bargains, paying only $851 – down 2.4% from the previous year. Rutgers\’ Red Knights paid $2,088, about the same as last year.

Big 10 School	Location	3BR Rent	%ch yr. ago
U. OF ILLINOIS	CHAMPAIGN	$1,024	10.3%
U. OF MARYLAND	COLLEGE PARK	1,962	10.1%
U. OF WISCONSIN	MADISON	1,458	9.1%
U. OF NEBRASKA	LINCOLN	1,058	7.5%
U. OF INDIANA	BLOOMINGTON	1,199	7.0%
U. OF MICHIGAN	ANN ARBOR	1,661	6.6%
U. OF MINNESOTA	MINNEAPOLIS	1,474	5.7%
OHIO STATE UNIV.	COLUMBUS	1,011	3.6%
U. OF IOWA	IOWA CITY	1,355	2.6%
PURDUE UNIVERSITY	LAFAYETTE	889	2.5%
U. OF ILLINOIS	URBANA	947	1.1%
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY	EAST BRUNSWICK	2,088	0.2%
PENNSYLVANIA STATE	STATE COLLEGE	1,257	-0.5%
MICHIGAN STATE	LANSING	851	-2.4%
BIG 10 CONFERENCE AVERAGE		$1,346	4.6%

Source: RentRange.com

Big 12 Conference

The University of Texas in Austin leads the way with an average 3-bedroom rent of $1751, up nearly 10% from last year. Ames – home to Iowa State – posted an increase of 11.5% but that brought the level to just $1184.

Oklahoma State in Stillwater had the lowest rents at just $974 although that was 5.9% higher than a year ago. Rents in Manhattan, Kansas (Kansas State) fell 1.5% to $1180.

Big 12 School	Location	3BR Rent	%ch yr. ago
IOWA STATE	AMES	1,184	11.5%
U. OF TEXAS	AUSTIN	1,751	9.7%
TEXAS TECH	LUBBOCK	1,174	8.9%
NORTH CAROLINA STATE	RALEIGH	1,277	7.2%
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY	WACO	975	6.8%
TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY	FORT WORTH	1,283	6.4%
OKLAHOMA STATE	STILLWATER	974	5.9%
U. OF OKLAHOMA	NORMAN	1,152	5.8%
U. OF KANSAS	LAWRENCE	1,079	2.9%
KANSAS STATE	MANHATTAN	1,180	-1.5%
BIG 12 CONFERENCE AVERAGE		$1,203	6.4%

Source: RentRange.com