As August approaches, college students across the country are packing up to head back to the classrooms, football games and late-night escapades (for some). But it’s just not college students getting ready to relocate as college towns typically offer workers, retirees and businesses strong economies, highly-educated work forces, arts and entertainment, libraries, leisure activities, collegiate sports and a vibe that is unique to these domiciles of higher education.
As usual, I invoke the TINSTAANREM axiom — There Is No Such Thing As A National Real Estate Market. Nor is there such a thing as a typical college town. Some have museums and world-class traveling exhibits and others not so much. Some have all the collegiate related sports and others none. Some even have Presidential libraries.
To identify the most (and least) expensive college town housing markets, Realtor.com analyzed those areas with the following metrics:
- 20 percent of the population is enrolled in an institution of higher education at the undergraduate level and beyond (it is not uncommon for college towns to have multiple colleges and universities)
- Minimum of 2,000 students in the town
- Maximum of two cities per state could be included in the findings
The first table shows the least expensive college town housing markets and the second table the most expensive.
To read the entire article from Realtor.com click http://www.realtor.com/news/trends/the-ten-most-and-least-expensive-college-towns-2017-edition/?identityID=577d5c8652b7729cf2011c9d&MID=2017_0721_WeeklyNL&RID=4056478642&cid=eml-2017-0721-WeeklyNL-blog_2_collegetowns-blogs_trends
Colleges and Universities can have a major influence on a city. Texas A&M University’s main campus in College Station has 60,000+ undergraduate and graduate students and more than 16,000 faculty and staff. The entire Bryan-College Station Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) population totaled approximately 250,000 in the 2010 Census. Penn State is similar with 45,000+ students at the State College, Pennsylvania campus. The entire Happy Valley MSA population, in which State College is included, was less than 160,000 in 2010. These institutions make a material impact on the surrounding area.
Ted