Alabama’s Auburn cheapest city for student housing – study

23 May 2017

Auburn in Alabama, United States, is the cheapest city for student housing globally, a study revealed yesterday, with a weekly rent only around a quarter of those charged at the most expensive cities in the world.

New York City remains the most expensive, followed by nearby Boston (Massachusetts, US) and the UK capital, London. Students pay nearly US$400 per week to stay in these cities.

Read our global study on the world's most & least expensive cities for student accommodation here: https://t.co/s7L7kPLYEv

— Student.com (@Student) May 22, 2017

Only one Australian city, Sydney, made the top 10 in Student.com‘s report, Cities in Focus: Global Student Accommodation Indicator”, which revealed the most and least expensive cities for student housing. Sydney came in at seventh place, rising three spots from its position as the 10th priciest city in the student accommodation consultancy’s report last September.

“It’s evident the big urban centres around the world remain huge magnets for both international and domestic students,” Student.com founder and CEO Luke Nolan said in a statement.

“On average, students pay more to live in these cities, but that’s not to say there aren’t more affordable options available.”

Students at the Big Apple pay US$431 on average for rent per week. Source: Reuters/Keith Bedford

Instead of location, Student.com points to how student-centric a city is as key to a city’s affordability, particularly in relation to its supply of housing.

“Across Australia, the UK and the US, cities with larger supplies of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) tend to be, on average, more affordable than cities that are undersupplied,” Nolan said.

“As the PBSA market grows, we’ll continue to see a more diversified range of options that cater to different budgets.”

Student.com analysed the amount of rent forked out by 8,000 international students across 92 cities worldwide through its site from Nov 1, 2015 till Oct 31, 2016.

Athens is home to the University of Georgia and Piedmont College. Source: Shutterstock.

Athens in Georgia and Tallahassee, Florida, were the second and third least expensive cities. Students spent slightly more than US$100 per week on rent.

Across the pond, the coastal city of Hull is the most affordable British city in Student.com‘s report, with a weekly rent of US$111 per week.

Here are the top 10 most and least expensive cities for student housing:

Top 10 most expensive cities

#	City	Country	Average Weekly Rental Spend (USD)
1	New York City	US	431
2	Boston	US	403
3	London	UK	359
4	Washington	US	329
5	La Jolla	US	298
6	Oxford	UK	288
7	Sydney	Australia	285
8	Cambridge	UK	272
9	Los Angeles	US	263
10	Seattle	US	260