Loading listings
University of Pennsylvania sits about 26,500 students deep in University City, the leafy West Philadelphia stretch across the Schuylkill River from downtown. Daily life runs along Locust Walk, the brick, tree-lined pedestrian spine where clubs table and everyone seems to cross paths. Campus opens onto Penn Park and the Schuylkill River Trail, so a run or a riverside lawn is right there. Fall means football at Franklin Field, the oldest two-tiered stadium in the country, and every spring juniors flood Locust Walk in red shirts for Hey Day. The neighborhoods around you, Spruce Hill and Cedar Park along Baltimore Avenue, are full of old porches and murals. You can walk most places, and the SEPTA trolley and subway drop you into Center City in minutes when you want a bigger night.
Penn houses first and second year students on campus, so most students spend two years in the residential system before moving off. That means the off-campus search usually doesn't start until junior year.
Once past the two-year requirement, students at Penn move into University City, where older rowhouses and converted twins dominate alongside a growing crop of purpose-built student high-rises. The process is landlord-driven: an application, proof of income or a guarantor, and usually first month plus a security deposit up front.
Most West Philly student leases run a full twelve months starting June 1, not the academic year, so plenty of students carry a summer overlap. Philadelphia caps how many unrelated people can share a unit, so a big group splitting a rowhouse should confirm the legal occupancy and a current rental license before signing.
Housing policies change frequently. Always verify current requirements directly with University of Pennsylvania before signing a lease.
University City runs on an early calendar. The cycle kicks off in the fall for the following year, and the prime junior-year preleasing window opens around October and November. The best rowhouses and the closest high-rises near Locust Walk go first, often locked up by Thanksgiving or shortly after winter break. Move early if you want the close-in spots and a real choice of roommates.
The peak runs October through winter break as juniors lock in rowhouses and high-rises near Locust Walk. Classes start in late August, but most leases begin June 1, so students often carry a summer overlap. The best rowhouses go first. Sign by winter break for the closest spots.
If you are still looking in February or March, you are hunting leftovers, which usually means a longer walk or a unit that needs work. The summer market is active because so many students leave for internships, which makes May through August a solid time to grab a short-term spot or take over a lease. Spring openings exist but they are thin, so move early if you want choice.
The classic Penn pick, Spruce Hill offers Victorian twins and porches a short walk west of campus, packed with students.
Stretching further down Baltimore Avenue, Cedar Park is a bit quieter and more residential with a strong neighborhood feel.
To the north, Powelton Village has greenery, murals, and a calmer, almost suburban vibe popular with grad students.
Common questions from students searching for housing.
A shared room or a bedroom in a split rowhouse near campus usually runs $800-$1,400/month per person. Older houses in Spruce Hill and Cedar Park land at the lower end, while newer University City high-rises near Locust Walk sit higher. Budget another $40-$120/month for utilities, since many older houses don't include heat or electric.
Other universities in Philadelphia share a similar off-campus housing market.
Holy Family University is a small Catholic school of about 3,087 students tucked into the Torresdale neighborhood of Far Northeast Philadelphia, a wooded pocket along the Delaware River. It's a heavily commuter campus, so the rhythm is calmer than a big-city college: leafy streets, single homes, and parks rather than…
View housing near Holy Family UniversityTemple University packs about 37,000 Owls into a Main Campus that sits right in North Philadelphia along North Broad Street, with no walls or gates separating it from the city. That's the whole vibe: you're not in a college bubble, you're in Philly. The Broad Street Line subway stops at campus, so the entire city is a…
View housing near Temple