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Emerson College plants about 5,100 arts and communication students in downtown Boston, with a compact campus wrapping the southeast corner of the Boston Common in the historic Theatre District. There's no leafy quad here: the city is the campus, and the Common, Public Garden, and State House are your front yard. Students live a vertical, walkable life, with first-years filling the landmark Little Building tower on Boylston Street. The school runs on production energy, and the student-run EVVY Awards, one of the largest student award shows in the country, is the spring highlight. The MBTA Green Line stops at Boylston right outside, and the Orange Line is a block away at Chinatown, so the whole city is a short ride.
Emerson requires new first-year students to live in a College residence hall, so as an incoming student you will be downtown in housing like the Little Building with the rest of your class. Exemptions to the residency requirement can be granted by Housing and Residential Education, usually for students commuting from a nearby family home or with specific circumstances. The default is on campus downtown.
Transfer and upper-class students have more freedom to live off campus, and many move into Boston neighborhoods by junior or senior year, often with help from the Office of Off-Campus Student Services. The Boston rental process is demanding, with most leases turning over September 1. Confirm the unit's legal occupancy before stacking roommates.
Most leases run twelve months, and landlords routinely ask for first month, last month, a security deposit, and a broker fee, which can mean a large sum due before you get keys. Read the lease for heat and utility responsibility. Be ready to sign quickly as a group, because downtown units move fast.
Housing policies change frequently. Always verify current requirements directly with Emerson College before signing a lease.
Boston has one of the most aggressive leasing cycles in the country, and downtown is the toughest part of it. A huge share of leases turn over on September 1, so the hunt starts the previous winter and peaks from January through April. If you want a place in the neighborhoods near campus, you almost have to start looking in late winter. The best units get claimed months ahead.
Demand peaks from January through April, and the closest, most central units go first. Classes begin in early September, right as the September 1 turnover floods the city, making move-in week famously chaotic. The blocks near campus draw the fiercest competition. Groups that searched in late winter dominate this stretch.
If you miss the spring rush, keep checking through summer for leftover units and watch for January openings from students leaving for co-ops or study away. Summer subletting is common, so a short-term room downtown is usually findable even when the fall market feels impossible. The Green and Orange Lines are steps away, so a unit a ride out still works. Acting the day you tour matters here.
Right by campus, gorgeous and central but among the most in-demand blocks in the city.
Bay Village is a tiny, quiet pocket of low brick row houses steps from Emerson, while Chinatown is closest of all, dense and walkable around the clock.
A short bus or walk away, full of brownstones and a strong arts crowd, while students after more room look outward to Mission Hill, Allston, or across the river toward Cambridge and Somerville.
Common questions from students searching for housing.
A room in a shared apartment near campus typically runs about $1,100-$1,800/month per person, and the blocks right around Emerson, like Beacon Hill and Back Bay, are some of the priciest in Boston. To bring your share down, students split larger units or look outward to Mission Hill, Allston, or across the river toward Cambridge and Somerville on the transit lines, where the same money goes further.
Other universities in Boston share a similar off-campus housing market.
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