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Chicago, IL is a sprawling lakefront city of neighborhoods, and student life is woven through nearly all of them. The University of Chicago anchors Hyde Park on the South Side, the University of Illinois Chicago sits just west of the Loop, DePaul fills Lincoln Park, Loyola hugs the lake up in Rogers Park, and Northeastern Illinois rounds out the North Side. You're never far from a campus or a CTA stop. Between classes you've got the Lakefront Trail, Grant Park and Millennium Park, the Museum Campus with the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium, and a calendar of free festivals all summer. Add Cubs and White Sox games and it's a genuinely big-league college town.
Surrounds the University of Chicago, leafy and lakefront with classic walk-ups and steady demand.
The gold-standard DePaul area, polished and upscale with the zoo and lakefront trails at your door.
Up north near Loyola, one of the more wallet-friendly options, diverse and right on the lake.
Here's what you need to know about getting around Chicago.
The CTA runs the 'L' trains and an enormous bus network, and a U-Pass comes bundled with tuition at most schools, so rides to campus are effectively prepaid. The Red Line connects the North Side to Hyde Park-adjacent stops, the Blue Line serves UIC, and the Brown and Purple lines feed Lincoln Park and the northern campuses. Metra commuter rail reaches the suburbs. Most students don't keep a car and rely on the trains and buses instead.
Most student neighborhoods are flat and walkable, with groceries and laundry within a few blocks. The Divvy bikeshare has hundreds of docks across the city for short trips. The Lakefront Trail and flat terrain make biking pleasant in the warmer months. Winters are real, so factor in a warm coat and the occasional slushy commute.
You don't need a car in Chicago, and most students don't keep one. Parking in the city is scarce and expensive, with permit zones in many neighborhoods. Those who do bring a car often pay for a spot or garage. Given the strong transit, the L and bus usually beat the hassle and cost of parking.
Common questions from students searching for housing.
It depends heavily on the neighborhood. Shared rooms often run around $900-$1,250 a month, while a private one-bedroom typically lands in the $1,400-$2,000 range. South and far-North Side areas like Hyde Park and Rogers Park tend to come in lower than Lincoln Park or the Loop.
Chicago is home to 6 universities, each with its own student housing market.
DePaul University spreads about 21,922 Blue Demons across two Chicago campuses, one in leafy Lincoln Park and one downtown in the Loop. Lincoln Park is the heart of student life, a walkable grid of brick three-flats and tree-lined streets that runs right up against the park it's named for and the Lake Michigan…
View housing near DePaulLoyola University Chicago plants about 16,900 students on a lakefront campus in Rogers Park, where Lake Michigan basically forms the eastern edge of the quad. The Lake Shore Campus sits on the water, so the lakefront path, beaches, and parks are part of daily life, not a weekend trip. Rogers Park is one of the city's…
View housing near Loyola ChicagoNortheastern Illinois University sits in North Park, a quiet residential pocket on Chicago's northwest side, with around 7,100 students across a main campus and satellites like the El Centro campus near Avondale. It's a commuter school at heart, so students fan out across the city and meet for class, clubs, and…
View housing near NEIURoosevelt University is a private, progressive liberal arts and professional university at 430 S Michigan Avenue in Chicago's South Loop. Founded in 1945 and named for Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, the university has a strong tradition of social justice and broad access to higher education. Roosevelt enrolls roughly…
View housing near Roosevelt UniversityThe University of Chicago anchors about 17,800 students in Hyde Park, a tree-lined neighborhood on the city's South Side seven miles below the Loop. The campus is all Gothic quads and limestone, with the green Midway Plaisance running along its south edge, a former World's Fair grounds students cross daily and skate on…
View housing near UChicagoThe University of Illinois Chicago packs about 33,500 students onto a campus just west of the Loop, the largest university in the city and one of the most diverse in the country. UIC started as a commuter school, and that pulse still shows: students arrive from every corner of Chicago, and the CTA Blue Line stops right…
View housing near UICBrowse student housing near each Chicago-area university.