Car-Free Near University of Houston: Purple Line Apartments
As of September 2026, eight of the 21 properties on Find My Place's University of Houston list sit within about half a mile of a METRORail Purple Line station, the line that actually serves UH's main campus. The closest pairings are Haven at Elgin and Altitude, each roughly 0.15 miles from a platform, and Tower 5040, about 0.16 miles from UH South/University Oaks. At METRO's student half-price fare, a rail ride costs 60 cents.
As of September 2026, eight of the 21 properties on Find My Place's University of Houston list sit within about half a mile of a METRORail Purple Line station, which is the line that actually serves UH's main campus (the Red Line serves UH-Downtown, Midtown and the Medical Center, not Cullen Boulevard). The closest pairings are Haven at Elgin and Altitude, each roughly 0.15 miles from a platform, and Tower 5040, about 0.16 miles from UH South/University Oaks. At METRO's student half-price fare, a rail ride costs 60 cents.
Doing Houston without a car? That list is your whole search. Below is every Purple Line building in the current apartments near University of Houston inventory, with its station and price.
Key Takeaways
- Purple Line, not Red. UH main campus is served by the TSU/UH Athletics District and UH South/University Oaks stations.
- Haven at Elgin (3719 Elgin St) is about 0.14 miles from Elgin/Third Ward station and lists private rooms from $849.
- $649 is the cheapest rail-adjacent listing: a private room in a 4-bedroom at Altitude, a short walk from MacGregor Park/MLK station.
- Trains run every 12 minutes on weekdays and every 18 on weekends, from before 5 a.m. to after midnight, per METRO.
- College students ride METRO at half price: 60 cents instead of $1.25. UH's COAST program can cover up to $27.50 a month on top of that for eligible students.
- Medical Center and Montrose listings sit on the Red Line and need a downtown transfer. Fine for a TMC job. Rough for a 9 a.m. lab.
Which METRORail Line Serves the University of Houston?
The Purple Line. METRO's METRORail station list runs it from the Theater District downtown through EaDo and Third Ward to Palm Center Transit Center. The stops near campus, north to south: Leeland/Third Ward, Elgin/Third Ward, TSU/UH Athletics District, UH South/University Oaks and MacGregor Park/MLK Jr.
Two of those touch campus. TSU/UH Athletics District sits on Scott Street between UH and Texas Southern, near TDECU Stadium. UH South/University Oaks sits on Wheeler at the south edge of campus. The Green Line shares the downtown and EaDo stops, then turns east along Harrisburg and never reaches UH.
People mix up the Red Line because it stops at a station named UH-Downtown, a separate university north of downtown. See "on the Red Line near UH" in a listing? Read it twice.
Apartments Near UH Purple Line Stations, Ranked by Distance
Distances below are straight-line estimates we calculated from each property's mapped address to the station's mapped location. Real walking routes run a bit longer.
| Property | Nearest Purple Line station | Approx. distance to station | Distance to UH | Lists from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haven at Elgin | Elgin/Third Ward | 0.14 mi | 0.6 mi | $849 (private room) |
| Altitude | MacGregor Park/MLK Jr. | about 0.1 to 0.2 mi | 1.0 mi | $649 (private room) |
| Tower 5040 | UH South/University Oaks | 0.16 mi | 0.5 mi | $709 |
| Cambridge Oaks | TSU/UH Athletics District | 0.26 mi | 0.4 mi | $603 |
| UH Studios LLC | Elgin/Third Ward | 0.26 mi | 0.9 mi | $800 (one-bedroom) |
| Global Houston | Elgin/Third Ward | 0.31 mi | 0.9 mi | $1,155 (studio) |
| MAC 4460 | MacGregor Park/MLK Jr. or UH South | 0.36 to 0.37 mi | 0.7 mi | $859 |
| Gateway on Cullen | Leeland/Third Ward | 0.47 mi | 1.0 mi | $820 (private room) |
Haven at Elgin and the Scott Street cluster
Haven at Elgin is the cleanest car-free pick. It sits at 3719 Elgin St, about a block and a half from the Elgin/Third Ward platform, 0.6 miles from campus by its commute widget. Private rooms in a 4-bedroom list at $849, with 5-bedroom rooms from $899 and one-bedrooms from $1,649. The rent drops as the bedroom count climbs, so that $849 is a per-person number.
UH Studios LLC (2617 Napoleon St) and Global Houston (2519 Scott St) share the same station. UH Studios is a single one-bedroom at a flat $800, with two reviews, both five stars. Global Houston lists a studio at $1,155 and a one-bedroom at $1,180, both whole-unit.
Tower 5040 and Cambridge Oaks, on the campus edge
Tower 5040 at 5040 Calhoun Rd is 0.5 miles from campus by its widget and roughly 0.16 miles from UH South/University Oaks. It lists from $709. Four-bedroom plans run $1,009 to $1,299 and one-bedrooms $1,639 to $1,919. That falling curve usually means per-bed pricing, but one $709 two-bedroom breaks the pattern, so ask the office before you divide anything. Its FMP score is 3.4 across five reviews.
Cambridge Oaks, at 4444 Cullen Blvd, is the closest building on the list to campus (0.4 miles) and about a quarter mile from TSU/UH Athletics District. It lists from $603 for a 3-bedroom and $663 for a 2-bedroom, while its one-bedroom lists at $1,455. Only per-person pricing makes that order make sense.
Altitude and MAC 4460, down by MacGregor Park
Altitude is the budget answer. It's on Martin Luther King Blvd, which is the street the Purple Line itself runs down south of Old Spanish Trail, and it lists a private room in a 4-bedroom at $649, a 3-bedroom room at $799 and a 2-bedroom room at $899. (Call it "a few blocks" from the station; two map sources we checked disagree slightly on the exact address point.) MAC 4460 at 4460 S MacGregor Way sits almost exactly between two stations and lists 4-bedroom plans at $859 to $899 against one-bedrooms at $1,565, another per-bed curve.
What It Costs to Ride METRORail as a UH Student
Sixty cents a ride. METRO's regular local fare is $1.25, and college students ride at half price with a photo ID plus a current class schedule and tuition receipt. On top of that, UH's COAST program puts up to $27.50 a month toward METRO fare for eligible students. You apply in myParking through AccessUH ("Student METRO Card") and upload the form under COAST Permits.
Transfers between local bus and rail are free for three hours, and a $3 Day Pass runs through 2 a.m. the next day.
On campus, UH runs its own shuttle routes (North, Student Center/Zone D and PGH/Zone E) Monday through Friday during fall and spring, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., tracked through Cougar Trax in the UH Go app. The stops on UH's shuttle page are campus spots like Entrance 18, Law-East and the Rec Center. None is an apartment complex.
Red Line Apartments Near UH: Why They Need a Transfer
Some listings on FMP's UH page are really Red Line buildings: UNITI Montrose (about 0.3 miles from Wheeler station), Life Tower (about 0.1 miles from TMC Transit Center) and 1969 Dryden Rd (about a quarter mile from Dryden/TMC). Their commute widgets put UH at 2.8 to 3.8 miles and Rice at 0.5 to 1.4.
From Wheeler, reaching UH by rail means riding north to Central Station, switching to the Purple Line and riding back south. It works. It's also the commute that has you pricing used Corollas by October.
Nursing or pre-med and splitting time at the Texas Medical Center? Then the math flips. Otherwise, stay on the Purple Line side of Highway 288.
Can You Really Live Near the University of Houston Without a Car?
Yes, for class. Probably not for everything else. The Purple Line handles campus-to-downtown well, and the eight buildings above sit a short walk from a platform. What it doesn't reach: the Galleria, west Houston and the airport.
Our honest take: pick one of the three buildings closest to a platform, sort out your student fare before the semester starts and budget for the occasional rideshare. That beats owning a car for most undergrads. If your job or internship is off the rail map, that's when the car earns its keep.
For more on picking an area, see our UH neighborhood guide, or browse every building on the Houston listings page.
Frequently Asked Questions About Living Car-Free Near UH
Is the University of Houston on the METRORail Red Line?
No. UH's main campus is on the Purple Line, at the TSU/UH Athletics District and UH South/University Oaks stations. The Red Line's "UH-Downtown" station serves the University of Houston-Downtown, a separate campus north of downtown.
Which apartment near UH is closest to a Purple Line station?
Haven at Elgin and Altitude, both roughly 0.1 to 0.2 miles from a platform (Elgin/Third Ward and MacGregor Park/MLK Jr.). Tower 5040 is right behind, about 0.16 miles from UH South/University Oaks and closer to campus than either.
How much does METRORail cost for UH students?
60 cents a ride at METRO's student half-price fare, versus $1.25 regular. Eligible UH students can also apply for COAST, which covers up to $27.50 a month of METRO fare, and transfers are free for three hours.
What's the cheapest apartment near a UH rail station?
$649 a month for a private room in a 4-bedroom at Altitude, on MLK Blvd near MacGregor Park/MLK Jr. station. Cambridge Oaks lists lower, at $603 in a 3-bedroom, but the site labels it "Whole Unit" even though the price curve reads per-person, so confirm with the office before you compare.
Find My Place — By Students, For Students
Colton Hibbert is the founder and CEO of Find My Place. He started it after getting burned by the usual student housing routine: hidden fees, staged photos, and a leasing office that stopped answering the second the lease was signed. So he built the platform he wished he'd had. Today he sets the strategy and keeps the whole company pointed at one job, making off-campus housing something students can actually trust. He writes here about where the student housing market is headed and why FMP is built the way it is.
