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Irvine, California is a master-planned city of roughly 300,000 in the heart of Orange County, about as polished and organized as a city gets. UC Irvine anchors the south side of town, dropping tens of thousands of Anteaters into a place built around villages, parks, and an enormous network of trails. Students cluster right next to campus in University Town Center and spread into planned communities like Woodbridge and Westpark, each with its own lakes, pools, and greenbelts. The Orange County Great Park, miles of bikeways, and quick access to the coast define daily life here, and the vibe is calm, green, and famously safe. Living here as a student means a clean, walkable suburb where campus, parks, and the beach are all within easy reach.
Sits right across from campus and is the closest, most walkable option, packed with students who stroll to class.
The quiet, upscale neighborhood next to UC Irvine, with hiking trails and a higher-end feel that suits students who want calm and have a car.
A classic Irvine village built around two lakes, with pools and parks and an easy drive to campus.
Here's what you need to know about getting around Irvine.
UC Irvine runs the Anteater Express shuttle around campus and to nearby housing, and OCTA buses cover the wider city. Irvine Station, the busiest commuter-rail stop in Orange County, connects you to Metrolink and Amtrak for trips up and down the coast, and the free Irvine CONNECT shuttle links the north side of town to the station. Together these make Irvine unusually friendly to students without a car, at least near campus.
The city is laced with more than 100 miles of off-street bike trails plus hundreds of lane-miles of on-street bikeways, so biking is a genuine option. If you live in University Town Center, you can walk to campus and skip the car most days. The planned villages are designed around greenbelts and paths that make walking and biking easy.
Irvine sprawls, so a car still helps for errands and weekend trips. Students in the outer villages like Woodbridge or Westpark generally find driving the practical choice. Parking is usually plentiful in the master-planned communities.
Common questions from students searching for housing.
Irvine is one of the pricier college markets in California. Sharing a room or splitting an apartment with roommates often puts your share around $1,000-$1,500 per month per person, while a private one-bedroom typically runs $2,000-$2,900 per month. Most students share to bring the per-person cost down.
Browse student housing near each Irvine-area university.