These are the 15 most expensive college towns

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There’s no way around it: College is expensive. And it’s not just the tuition and books — you also need somewhere to live. HomeUnion, an online real estate investment management firm, released a list of the college towns with the most expensive off-campus rents throughout the nation.

Read more: 11 things to do before you head to college

The 15 metro areas & schools where housing is most expensive

“As college students return to school this month, we wanted to let them and their families know where off-campus rents would be the most expensive,” Steve Hovland, director of research for HomeUnion said in a press release. “This study illustrates where living near campus is disproportionately more expensive than the market as a whole, and off-campus housing may eat into their college savings.”

To create this list, HomeUnion first narrowed the list of all colleges and universities in the U.S., only considering schools where more than 15,000 students are enrolled. From there, the group looked at their internal database from the second quarter of 2016 to determine median monthly rent within a two-mile radius of university campuses and then compared it to the market-rate monthly rent in the metro area. Here’s what they came up with.

1. Los Angeles/Westwood: University of California, Los Angeles

  • Median Rent: $4,343 (80% above market)
  • Market Rent: $2,409
  • Enrollment: 43,000

2. San Jose/Palo Alto, California: Stanford University

  • Median Rent: $5,705 (63% above market)
  • Market Rent: $3,499
  • Enrollment: 16,000

3. Miami/Coral Gables: University of Miami

  • Median Rent: $2,818 (44% above market)
  • Market Rent: $1,916
  • Enrollment: 17,000

4. Boston/Cambridge: Harvard University

  • Median Rent: $3,287 (44% above market)
  • Market Rent: $2,276
  • Enrollment: 21,000

5. Oakland/Berkeley, California: University of California, Berkeley

  • Median Rent: $4,070 (44% above market)
  • Market Rent: $2,822
  • Enrollment: 37,000

6. Salt Lake City/East SLC, Utah: University of Utah

  • Median Rent: $2,043 (41% above market)
  • Market Rent: $1,443
  • Enrollment: 32,000

7. Dallas/Richardson: University of Texas, Dallas

  • Median Rent: $2,058 (39% above market)
  • Market Rent: $1,476
  • Enrollment: 23,000

8. Seattle/University District: University of Washington 

  • Median Rent: $2,786 (39% above market)
  • Market Rent: $2,044
  • Enrollment: 45,000

9. Lansing/East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University 

  • Median Rent: $1,282 (35% above market)
  • Market Rent: $948
  • Enrollment: 51,000

10. Portland, Oregon: Portland State University

  • Median Rent: $2,327 (34% above market)
  • Market Rent: $1,724
  • Enrollment: 28,000

11. New York City/Greenwich Village: New York University

  • Median Rent: $2,881 (34% above market)
  • Market Rent: $2,139
  • Enrollment: 57,000

12. Chapel Hill/University City, North Carolina: University of North Carolina

  • Median Rent: $1,739 (31% above market)
  • Market Rent: $1,329
  • Enrollment: 29,000

13. Gainesville/West Hills, Florida: Santa Fe College

  • Median Rent: $1,510 (29% above market)
  • Market Rent: $1,173
  • Enrollment: 17,000

14. Springfield/Upham’s Corner, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts

  • Median Rent: $2,013 (26% above market)
  • Market Rent: $1,596
  • Enrollment: 29,000

15. Ithaca/Forest Home, New York: Cornell University

  • Median Rent: $2,082 (24% above market)
  • Market Rent: $1,675
  • Enrollment: 22,000

Creating a housing budget

You may not be able to do much about the cost of living in the area where you live, but you can do something about making sure you qualify for a rental. Having a good credit score is important, as landlords often review a version of your credit report during the application process. You can see where your credit currently stands by taking a look at your free credit report summary, updated monthly, on Credit.com.

More from Credit.com

Read more: The ultimate free and cheap guide for college students

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