Where Emory Students Live Off Campus: 3 Neighborhoods Compared

Where Emory students live off campus usually comes down to three areas: Druid Hills right around the Quad, North Druid Hills along Briarcliff and North Druid Hills Road, or Decatur to the southeast. Druid Hills is the closest but has the fewest apartments. North Druid Hills has the most apartments, with whole one-bedrooms listed on FMP from $1,335. Decatur gives you a real downtown and a MARTA rail station, at the cost of a longer trip.

That's the short version, built from the Emory-area buildings on Find My Place in November 2026 and their listed distances to campus. Below, each neighborhood gets its own breakdown: what the housing looks like, which FMP-listed buildings are there, and who it actually suits.

 

Key Takeaways

• The Druid Hills side of campus wins on distance. Bell Rock Springs is 0.9 miles from Emory and Campus Crossings Briarcliff is 1.1, per their FMP listings.
• For sheer number of apartments, go to North Druid Hills (the 2020 census counted 10,993 housing units there, and 41.6% of households are one person).
• Decatur is its own city, a little over four square miles, with a courthouse square and the Decatur station on MARTA's Blue Line.
• "Decatur" on a lease doesn't always mean downtown Decatur. Check the street.
• Cheapest listed price in all three areas: $825 at The Apartments at President Park, though its pricing basis is unclear.
• Our pick for most juniors? North Druid Hills. Most of the inventory is there, and so are the grocery stores.

 

How We Compared Druid Hills, Decatur and North Druid Hills

We started from the 57 places on FMP's emory off campus housing page and kept only the eight buildings within about three miles of campus. The rest are mostly Midtown and downtown towers aimed at Georgia Tech and Georgia State students. Then we sorted those eight by neighborhood. Seven land in the three areas below. (The eighth, Broadstone Pullman by Pullman Yard, is in Kirkwood, so it's out of this comparison.)

Distances come from each FMP property page. Prices are listed base rent as of November 2026, before fees. For the full rent breakdown, our guide to Emory off-campus housing costs goes building by building. If you don't plan to have a car, read our piece on which apartments the Emory shuttle reaches before you pick a neighborhood. This article is about the neighborhoods themselves.

 

1. Druid Hills and Emory Village: Closest to Campus, Fewest Apartments

Druid Hills is the best pick if being close to campus beats everything else, and the worst pick if you want lots of options. The neighborhood was planned by Frederick Law Olmsted, and the Druid Hills Civic Association notes that exterior changes to homes in its historic districts need a Certificate of Appropriateness. Translation: big old houses, mature trees, and not much new construction.

The numbers back that up. The 2020 census counted 4,548 housing units in the Druid Hills CDP, and 43.4% of its households were married couples. It's a family neighborhood. (Emory's main campus itself was annexed into the City of Atlanta in 2018, so the "Druid Hills" around it is technically next door now.)

The two closest FMP-listed buildings aren't inside the historic district itself, but they're the nearest apartments to it:

• Bell Rock Springs, 550 Rock Springs Court NE: 0.9 miles from Emory. One-bedrooms list from $1,545, and rent climbs with every bedroom, so these are whole-apartment prices.
• At Campus Crossings Briarcliff (1659 Briarcliff Road, 1.1 miles), rooms in three-bedroom suites list from $1,040. Since those suites cost less than its two-bedroom rooms ($1,195 and up), the $1,040 reads as a per-person price, even though the site labels it "Whole Unit."

Emory Village is the small commercial strip at the campus gates. It grew up in the 1920s at the end of the old streetcar line and got its two roundabouts in a 2011 makeover.

Walkable? Yes. Full of apartment complexes? No. Renting here tends to mean a room in a house, found through word of mouth.

Best for: students who'd rather walk or bike, and anyone who doesn't need nightlife next door.

 

2. North Druid Hills: Where Most Emory Apartments Actually Are

North Druid Hills is where you go for volume. It's an unincorporated part of DeKalb County with 20,385 residents in the 2020 census, and it stretches north to I-85. Locals also call parts of it Briarcliff or Toco Hills. Its commercial core is the pair of Toco Hills shopping centers at LaVista and North Druid Hills Road, which is handy when the fridge is empty.

Three FMP-listed complexes are here. All three price by the whole apartment (rent rises with bedroom count at each one):

• Cheapest whole one-bedroom near Emory on FMP: Cortland Druid Hills, 2696 North Druid Hills Road, at $1,335. It's 2.5 miles out. Two-bedrooms start at $1,696.
• Centra at North Druid Hills, 7 Executive Park Drive (2.8 miles), lists one-bedrooms from $1,498 and two-bedrooms from $2,074.
• Want a three-bedroom to split? Cortland Oleander at 10 Executive Park West (2.6 miles) lists one at $2,696, so roughly $899 each across three people.

Here's the part most neighborhood guides skip. Executive Park isn't just an office park anymore. Emory's own master plan says the university already runs orthopedics, sports medicine and brain health programs there, and it lists multi-family housing among the uses planned for later phases. If you have clinical hours or a job at Executive Park, living at Centra or Cortland Oleander puts you around the corner from them.

Best for: juniors and grad students who want a standard apartment with a leasing office, and anyone with a car (or a roommate who has one).

 

3. Decatur: A Real Downtown, With a Longer Trip

Decatur is the pick for students who want restaurants, a courthouse square and a train station within walking distance. It's a separate city and the seat of DeKalb County, with 24,928 residents in the 2020 census and a little over four square miles of ground, per its Wikipedia entry. The Old Courthouse Square is the center of town. Decatur station, on MARTA's Blue Line, sits just off it at 400 Church Street.

One trap. A Decatur mailing address covers a lot more ground than the city itself. Neither of the two FMP buildings with Decatur addresses is on the square:

• The Apartments at President Park, 1231 Clairmont Road: 1.2 miles from Emory, which is closer than a lot of "Druid Hills" options. It lists from $825, but its floor plans jump around (an $830 three-bedroom, a $995 two-bedroom, "entire" two-bedrooms from $1,650), so we can't tell you which prices are per person. Ask the office.
• Abberly Skye Apartment Homes, 2550 Blackmon Drive (2.3 miles): whole-unit pricing, with one-bedrooms from $1,400, two-bedrooms from $1,900 and three-bedrooms from $2,700.

Both show up on FMP's Decatur student housing page. If walking to the square is the whole reason you want Decatur, map the walk to Church Street before you tour.

Best for: grad students, students without a car who'll use MARTA, and anyone who wants a town to live in, not just near.

 

Druid Hills vs North Druid Hills vs Decatur at a Glance

• Closest to campus: the Druid Hills side. The nearest FMP-listed buildings are 0.9 to 1.1 miles away.
• Most apartments to choose from: North Druid Hills, at 2.5 to 2.8 miles.
• Best downtown: Decatur, no contest.
• Cheapest whole one-bedroom on FMP: North Druid Hills (Cortland Druid Hills, $1,335).
• Cheapest listed price, any unit: the $825 at President Park on Clairmont Road, basis unconfirmed.
• Quietest: Druid Hills. It's mostly homeowners.

Our honest take: if you're an undergrad picking for junior year, start in North Druid Hills. It has the inventory, and you can always trade up to Decatur once you know what you want.

 

Frequently Asked Questions About Where Emory Students Live

What neighborhood do most Emory students live in off campus?

North Druid Hills, if you go by where the apartments are. Three of the eight FMP-listed buildings within three miles of Emory sit on North Druid Hills Road or in Executive Park, and it's where most of the area's apartment stock is. Druid Hills is closer but mostly single-family homes.

Is Decatur a good place for Emory students to live?

For grad students and anyone who wants a walkable downtown, yes. Undergrads tend to find it farther than they'd like. Check the actual address too, because a "Decatur" address doesn't guarantee you're near the square.

Can you walk to Emory from off-campus housing?

From a few places. Bell Rock Springs (0.9 miles), Campus Crossings Briarcliff (1.1) and The Apartments at President Park (1.2) are the closest FMP-listed buildings. Everything in North Druid Hills is 2.5 miles or more, which is a bike, bus or car trip.

Is Emory Village a neighborhood?

Not really. It's a small commercial strip at the campus gates, at North Decatur and Oxford Roads, inside the larger Druid Hills area. Good for coffee and a quick dinner, not for finding an apartment complex.