Rising rent prices across Gainesville are pushing UF and Santa Fe College students farther from campus, making housing near the university increasingly unaffordable. A study published in September 2025 listed Gainesville as the 11th most expensive metro to live in out of the 196 most populous areas in the U.S.
With enrollment climbing and most students living off campus, rising rent prices are reshaping how Gainesville students decide where to live. Santa Fe College does not offer on-campus housing, and roughly 75% of UF students live off campus, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Median monthly rent for 2024 in Gainesville increased by about $250 since 2015, after adjusting for inflation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment was about $1,200 per month in 2024.
Brianna Bates, a Gainesville resident and the Lexington Apartments leasing manager, is not surprised at the increases in rent across the city.
“Gainesville as a whole is a market that always goes up,” she said.
When one apartment raises its prices, it sets the tone for other apartments that want to match the market and increase profits, Bates said. Competitors essentially push each other to raise prices, even for long-term residents who she believes should have lower rates.
Prices aren’t just based on the market; they are also based on demand.
“A lot of apartments here work off of a tier system,” she said. “Once you hit a certain price point at a certain amount of leases, your price goes up.”
The more leases she gets signed, the higher the price goes up. She tells students to sign sooner rather than later to avoid the hike in prices, she said.
Bates said while interest in off-campus housing peaked last year, she has noticed demand slowing down this year. She attributes the decline to how much rent is going up now.
Rents are expected to decline 1% nationally this year, according to Florida Realtors. If Gainesville continues to follow national trends, then students should expect some relief.
Many UF students who are eligible to live on campus choose off-campus housing for the amenities. Edmund Poon, a 20-year-old UF finance sophomore, moved from dorms to The Standard this school year for more space, a kitchen and proximity to his classes.
He currently pays about $1,350 a month for a four-bedroom apartment, but next year, he expects the rent to increase to $1,550 a month. Because of this, he and his roommates are not re-signing their lease. Instead, they're moving to Stadium House, a newer apartment that has a similar rent but better amenities.
Location is also an important factor for Poon, so his new apartment is still close to campus. He said proximity helps him make professional connections and friends, and he feels like he's a part of UF.
“You could definitely take a lot of online classes, and that'll probably make you feel a little lonely if you weren't on campus as much,” he said.
To accommodate high enrollment but limited physical space, UF's PaCE program allows students to take online classes before transitioning to on-campus classes after they've completed 60 credits. PaCE students cannot live on campus until they transition to on-campus courses, but many choose to live in Gainesville to find a sense of community.
Adrian Socorro, an 18-year-old UF English freshman who is part of the PaCE program, moved to Gainesville for the “college experience.” If a student can’t live near campus, he or she would be missing out on social and professional experiences the school offers, Socorro said.
“You would be losing a year of your college life,” he said. “That stacks up when you realize that you're behind everyone else.”
Although he's enjoyed the involvement in college culture that comes with living near campus, the increase in rent is making it harder for him to recommend UF as a school, especially to out-of-state students.
“It makes it more difficult for new students to feel comfortable financially,” Socorro said, adding that students will just opt to go to a school they can commute to from home.
He said “affordability definitely goes based on proximity” in the apartments he looked at. A UF report on average rental rates for the 2025-26 school year indicates a $345 difference in monthly rent between four-bedroom apartments 2 miles or less from campus versus those 3 miles or farther.
Socorro chose to live at Lexington Apartments, a 30-minute bus commute to UF’s campus, for the low rent, but he’s moving closer to campus next year because of the faster commute and ability to walk to campus. His new apartment's rent will be just under $900 a month, but it's a trade-off he's willing to make.
“It's gonna be, like, $60 more to be infinitely close[r] to campus,” Socorro said.
Reagan Bresnahan is a contributing writer for The Alligator.
Reagan is a videographer for the Alligator. She is a freshman majoring in journalism and this is her first year with the paper. In her spare time she loves music, reading, and spending time with friends.
