Students in Arizona's college towns can face widely varying costs in their search for off-campus housing, according to rental data. The cities have adopted different strategies for lowering prices.
In comparison to Flagstaff and Tucson, which respectively house NAU and UA, Tempe had the highest average monthly rent prices.
The cities maintain programs and efforts to create more housing units that students might inhabit.
Tempe
As of April 8, ZillowRentals reported an average rent of $2,300 for the City of Tempe, higher than the national average of $2,000. Average costs have increased by roughly $25 since last year.
Around 55,500 students were based on ASU's Tempe campus as of Fall 2025, according to University data.
U.S. News & World Report data from Fall 2024 reported that 76% of ASU students live off campus, though the data does not specify by campus.
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Irma Hollamby Cain, the deputy director of Tempe Community Health and Human Services and board president of the Tempe Coalition for Affordable Housing, said city officials have worked to implement affordable housing programs.
Hollamby Cain pointed to the Hometown for All Initiative, which she said was a commitment from the city to fund affordable housing.
"With those funds, we can construct new homes, we can rehabilitate older ones and update them, we can buy single-family homes and apartment complexes and condos all over the city, which we have," Hollamby Cain said. "We can also help developers include affordable housing in their developments by way of our financial participation."
Hollamby Cain said funding allocated under the $32 million Affordable Housing Bond, which was approved by voters in 2024, was used to acquire a Big Lots property in south Tempe. According to the city, the site will be redeveloped for affordable housing.
Flagstaff
In Flagstaff, the average rent price was $2,113 as of April 8, according to ZillowRentals.
Compared to ASU and UA, NAU had the highest percentage of students who live in college-owned properties as of Fall 2024, around 43%, as reported by U.S. News & World Report.
On campus, NAU has 24 residence halls and apartment buildings that house over 10,300 of the 25,748 students enrolled in Spring 2025, according to NAU's website.
In the last ten years, the City of Flagstaff has built several five-story apartment buildings intended for student or family use, Flagstaff City Council member David Spence said.
"None of those six high rises are in the category of what you would call affordable housing; they're market-rate apartments," Spence said. "If a student wanted to live off campus in one of these high rises, they'd be paying market rate."
Spence said the city sometimes struggles with creating multistory buildings, as they face backlash from residents over concerns that they are not "in the nature of Flagstaff."
"For you in Phoenix and around Tempe, five stories is nothing," Spence said. "For Flagstaff, that was a big deal."
The new developments are located near campus, but Spence said they are not exclusively available to NAU students. The city is working to create affordable and workforce housing, a small portion of which would be near campus and could also be available to students.
Tucson
Pricing for housing in Tucson is not only the lowest of the college towns, but it has also decreased in the last year.
According to ZillowRentals, the average rent in Tucson is $1,500 as of April 8. It has decreased by $150 compared to the previous year.
95% of UA's students live off campus, according to the U.S. News & World Report. On-campus housing at UA currently holds about 8,000 students, and as of Fall 2024, the university enrolled over 56,000 students.
Lisa Sullivan, the president of the Tucson Association of Realtors, said limited availability of on-campus housing pushes students into residential neighborhoods, and it is common in the city for parents to buy homes for their children to live in while they attend UA.
"We have students living in properties that they probably wouldn't be able to afford with normal student income, but their parents have purchased the properties, and so they get to live in there rent-free during their tenure at UA," Sullivan said.
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María Gayosso, a principal planner for Tucson Planning and Development Services, said in a written statement that the city has created an urban overlay district that allows for "group dwelling land uses."
This districting is typically used for structures like fraternity and sorority houses, dormitories, college student rentals or apartments where bedrooms are separately leased, Gayosso stated.
Even though Tucson is cheaper than Tempe and Flagstaff, Sullivan said it remains too pricey to live close to the UA campus.
"The prices have been driven up due to a lack of housing nearby," Sullivan said. "There's a limited pool of properties that are within biking distance, which is popular here."
Edited by Carsten Oyer, Henry Smardo and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at msweador@asu.edu and follow @miasweador on X.
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