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Indiana University Bloomington brings about 43,064 students to Bloomington, a classic college town in southern Indiana that lives and breathes the school. The wooded campus is one of the prettiest in the Midwest, full of limestone buildings, and it runs right into downtown along Kirkwood Avenue, where student life concentrates with shops and the public square. Bloomington is genuinely walkable, and Bloomington Transit covers the gaps. The hilly, tree-covered terrain gives the place real character, and nearby parks and state forest land keep the outdoors close. Basketball is religion here, and the Little 500 bike race each spring is the town's signature event, immortalized on screen and still a huge deal.
New first-year students at IU Bloomington are required to live on campus. The requirement is administered through IU Housing, which reviews exemption requests on a case-by-case basis.
You can apply for a residency exemption through IU Housing if you qualify, with common grounds being living with a parent or guardian within 25 miles of Bloomington, being a transfer student, being 21 before your first semester, or being married. After the first year, most students move off campus into the dense rental scene around campus and downtown. Expect applications, a security deposit, and a co-signer if you lack credit history.
Leases typically begin in August, so plan your move-in around then alongside classes that start in mid-to-late August. Watch the lease for joint versus per-bedroom liability in group houses. Bloomington also has strict occupancy rules in some residential zones, so verify the legal occupancy before signing a house with a big group.
Housing policies change frequently. Always verify current requirements directly with Indiana University-Bloomington before signing a lease.
Bloomington's leasing cycle is famously early for the biggest, best houses. If you want a large house near Tenth and College, the four-plus-bedroom kind groups fight over, start calling landlords for tours toward the end of September the year before. Those go almost a full year out. Most students at IU chasing a prime group house treat early fall as the starting gun.
The prime group houses are the exception that demands early action, with the best ones claimed across the fall. The search cycle realistically runs across both the fall and spring semesters, so you do not have to panic about smaller units. Classes start in mid-to-late August, and the closest-in houses go first. Typically the large shared houses are gone long before apartments.
For one-bedrooms and studios you have more runway, often until around spring break, since demand is lower and turnover steadier. Late searchers can still find smaller units into spring and summer. Subletting over the summer is common as students leave for breaks or internships. That makes the warmer months the easiest stretch to tour without much competition.
The walkable heart of student life, near the square with the densest cluster of rentals and nightlife.
Just east of campus across Union Street, single-family houses giving way to apartment communities served by Bloomington Transit.
Prime large-house territory that groups lock down early.
Common questions from students searching for housing.
A per-person room in a shared house or larger apartment near IU usually runs about $550-$900/month, with bigger group houses landing at the low end per person. Studios and one-bedrooms run higher, often $850-$1,000/month. Budget another $50-$120/month for utilities depending on what's bundled.
Other universities in Bloomington share a similar off-campus housing market.
Ivy Tech Community College's Bloomington campus serves students in south-central Indiana with affordable two-year degree and certificate programs in fields ranging from health sciences and information technology to business and advanced manufacturing. The campus is located on Daniels Way on the west side of…
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