The 10 Best College Towns to Buy Rental Property in 2025

What are the best college towns to buy rental property?

You’ve come to the right place.

I’ve built a seven-figure student housing rental portfolio. Based on my experience and market data, these 10 markets offer the highest ROI potential for student housing investors in 2025.

Want to learn more? Read on!

Key takeaways:

Top-ranked universities don’t always require massive investments. Markets like Baltimore and Philadelphia offer properties under $250,000 despite hosting top-10 institutions like Johns Hopkins and UPenn.
Affordable markets exist in both large cities and smaller college towns. Cleveland offers the lowest entry point at $127,750 near Case Western Reserve, while Gainesville presents opportunities around $280,000 near the University of Florida.

Why invest in college towns

Are college towns good for rental properties?

College towns are ideal places to invest in student housing rental properties.

Why? Because students moving to college need to find affordable housing near campus.

And this is often challenging, especially if staying in dorms isn’t an option.

In fact, a recent survey revealed that 20% of students have a hard time finding the housing they need. That means student housing investments are one of the best real estate investment opportunities.

Students are also generally less picky about their home environment than high-income professionals might be, so expensive remodels don’t have to be a priority. Ultimately, this saves you money.

Overall, colleges will always attract students. And especially during challenging economic times, there tends to be an increase in people going back to school to reskill or upskill so they can stay professionally competitive.

That means your student housing rental can still bring in revenue even when the economy isn’t doing particularly well.

Want an example? Between 2007 and 2010 – and the corresponding recession – college enrollment increased by nearly 16 percent.

And even when college students were sent home during Covid, people who owned student housing rental properties were able to pivot and cater to other demographics, like hospital professionals who needed affordable housing.

How do I know? Because I invest in college rental property – and teach others how to do the same. I’ve built a student housing business myself that currently brings in multiple six figures in passive income.

Many of my properties cash flow $1,500-$3,500 per month. Want to learn how? Here, I talk more about my story:

Are you ready to learn where you should invest in rental properties? Keep reading.

How to choose the right college town to invest in

How do you ultimately pick the right college town?

A good college town to invest in are areas where there are:

Top hospitals nearby
Lots of new job opportunities
Top colleges

Hospitals, job growth, and top colleges attract high-income earners and, therefore, a better quality of life, which translates into higher rents. Plus, the risk you take decreases because those job opportunities and colleges will continue to attract people regardless of factors like a poor economy or national housing trends.

Also, take a look at where rents increase. For instance, Statista reports that some of the leading universities with the highest rent growth are University of California – Riverside, CA (15%), Clemson University, SC (6.9%), and University of South Florida, FL (6.9%).

Also, here’s more on how I decide on what property to buy:

With that, what are the best college towns to invest in? Let’s take a look.

Top 10 best college towns to buy rental property

Here are the top towns for investing in student housing rental properties in 2024. I’ve selected them based on different college town rankings by websites like Redfin and Homes.com.

The ranking here below includes factors like universities nearby, tuition costs, college rankings, walking score, population, and property listing prices.

Ultimately, the investment decision you make depends on many factors, but this list can help you narrow down your research.

Disclaimer: Some of these markets may have occupancy limits which means there’s a limit to how many unrelated tenants there are per unit, so you might want to focus on buying a duplex, triplex, multifamily, etc if that’s the case or discuss with a real estate attorney before investing.

With that, here are some of the best places to buy rental property.

1. Austin, TX – University of Texas at Austin

Median Property List Price: $570,000
Student Market: University of Texas at Austin (#38 nationally)
Annual Tuition & Fees: $40,996
Walkability Score: 73 out of 100
Population Base: 966,292

Key Advantages:

Large student population in a major tech city
Strong walkability score for student convenience
Major research university presence
Large population base for rental market stability

2. Gainesville, FL – University of Florida

Median Property List Price: $280,000
Student Market: University of Florida (#29 nationally)
Annual Tuition & Fees: $28,658
Walkability Score: 37 out of 100
Population Base: 141,341

Key Advantages:

Top 30 nationally ranked university
Attractive entry price point
Strong university brand recognition
Growing college town market

3. Provo, UT – Brigham Young University – Provo

Median Property List Price: $503,500
Student Market: Brigham Young University (#89 nationally)
Annual Tuition & Fees: $6,304
Walkability Score: 54 out of 100
Population Base: 114,156

Key Advantages:

Lowest tuition costs among top markets
Mid-range walkability score
Moderate property entry point

4. New Haven, CT – Yale University

Median Property List Price: $285,000
Student Market: Yale University (#3 nationally)
Annual Tuition & Fees: $62,250
Walkability Score: 68 out of 100
Population Base: 137,339

Key Advantages:

Ivy League prestige location
Top 3 nationally ranked university
Strong walkability score
Moderate property entry point despite prestige

5. Baltimore, MD – Johns Hopkins University

Median Property List Price: $210,500
Student Market: Johns Hopkins University (#7 nationally)
Annual Tuition & Fees: $60,480
Walkability Score: 64 out of 100
Population Base: 563,455

Key Advantages:

Top 10 nationally ranked university
Lowest price point among top-tier university cities
Strong medical/research presence
Large metropolitan population base

6. Athens, GA – University of Georgia

Median Property List Price: $318,000
Student Market: University of Georgia (#49 nationally)
Annual Tuition & Fees: $30,220
Walkability Score: 27 out of 100
Population Base: 127,793

Key Advantages:

Top 50 nationally ranked university
Mid-range property prices
Classic college town atmosphere
Growing regional market

7. Pittsburgh, PA – Carnegie Mellon University

Median Property List Price: $239,900
Student Market: Carnegie Mellon University (#22 nationally)
Annual Tuition & Fees: $61,344
Walkability Score: 62 out of 100
Population Base: 295,793

Key Advantages:

Top 25 nationally ranked university
Competitive entry price point
Good walkability score
Strong tech/research presence

8. West Lafayette, IN – Purdue University – West Lafayette

Median Property List Price: $319,000
Student Market: Purdue University (#51 nationally)
Annual Tuition & Fees: $28,794
Walkability Score: 51 out of 100
Population Base: 45,111

Key Advantages:

Top engineering university
Moderate property prices
Mid-range walkability
True college town environment

9. Albany, NY – University of Albany – SUNY

Median Property List Price: $225,000
Student Market: University of Albany – SUNY (#182 nationally)
Annual Tuition & Fees: $28,248
Walkability Score: 65 out of 100
Population Base: 97,593

Key Advantages:

State capital location
Attractive entry price point
Strong walkability score
Public university stability

10. Philadelphia, PA – University of Pennsylvania

Median Property List Price: $250,000
Student Market: University of Pennsylvania (#7 nationally)
Annual Tuition & Fees: $63,452
Walkability Score: 96 out of 100
Population Base: 1,527,886

Key Advantages:

Ivy League location
Top 10 nationally ranked university
Highest walkability score on the list
Largest population base

And for 10 more locations, take a look at these options:

11. St. Louis, MO – Washington University in St. Louis

Median Property List Price: $225,000
Tuition and Fees: $60,590
U.S. News and World Report Ranking: 15
Walk Score: 85

Population: 279,390

12. Cleveland, OH – Case Western Reserve University

Median Property List Price: $127,750
Tuition and Fees: $62,234
U.S. News and World Report Ranking: 44
Walk Score: 92

Population: 360,040

13. Chapel Hill, NC – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Median Property List Price: $674,615

Tuition and Fees: $37,558

U.S. News and World Report Ranking: 29

Walk Score: 42

Population: 60,841

14. Ann Arbor, MI – University of Michigan

Median Property List Price: $478,250

Tuition and Fees: $57,273

U.S. News and World Report Ranking: 25

Walk Score: 52

Population: 119,570

15. Charlottesville, VA – University of Virginia

Median Property List Price: $510,000

Tuition and Fees: $56,837 out of state

U.S. News and World Report Ranking: 25

Walk Score: 58

Population: 44,206

16. Columbus, OH – Ohio State University

Median Property List Price: $270,000

Tuition and Fees: $39,019
U.S. News and World Report Ranking: 49
Walk Score: 41

Population: 907,865

17. Williamsburg, VA – William and Mary

Medium Property List Price: $1,335,000

U.S. News and World Report Ranking: 41

Tuition and Fees: $46,625

Walk Score: 61

Population: 15,884

18. Buffalo, NY – University of Buffalo

Median Property List Price: $165,000
Tuition and Fees: $28,776
U.S. News and World Report Ranking: 89
Walk Score: 67

Population: 274,618

19. Troy, NY – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Median Property List Price: $183,000
Tuition and Fees: $60,051
U.S. News and World Report Ranking: 51
Walk Score: 52

Population: 49,819

20. Iowa City, IA – University of Iowa

Median Property List Price: $315,000

Tuition and Fees: $31,904

U.S. News and World Report Ranking: 83

Walk Score: 45

Population: 74,903

Over to you!

There you have it. Now you know what the best college towns to buy rental property are. As you can see, there are plenty of great locations that are prime candidates for a student housing investment – from smaller towns to mid-sized cities.

So, although there’s no perfect location to choose, it’s always a smart idea to go where there are great universities – and correspondingly high demand for affordable housing in walkable neighborhoods. Because ultimately, the right area makes properties easier to rent – and decreases risk overall.

Since real estate prices change often, make sure to keep an eye on the market for the most up-to-date numbers. That way, you’ll be able to snap up the best deals.

Because it IS possible to make a great income from student housing. That’s what my client Sydney was able to do, something that helped her quit her 9-5: