Last Updated: June 4th, 2024
Maintained by: Alexandra Michael
(aemichae@cs.washington.edu).
Previous Editions: 2022 | 2020 | 2017
How much does a typical Allen School PhD student spend on rent per month? (top)
As of May 2024, the mean rent paid by PhD students in the Allen School is $1459/month. The mean utilities paid is $107 per month. Detailed statistics are available here.
Where does everyone live? (top)
The most popular neighborhoods are (in decreasing popularity):
What is the housing process like? (top)
You can find listings for housing on sites such as Zillow, Craigslist, PadMapper, or aPodment.com, and contact the listing agent (or landlord directly). The listing agent (or landlord) gets back to you with a time to visit the listing. Once you visit the listing and would like to move forward with the process, you pay a non-refundable application fee of $40. The application consists of a background and credit check. The landlord screens the applications in the order that they are received (First-In-Time), so the first qualifying applicant will be accepted. If the landlord or agent accepts your application, you and the landlord or agent sign a lease and the keys are delivered to you.
When should I start apartment hunting? (top)
The best strategy is to look as soon as possible. The busiest times usually peaks on August 10th because of the projected move-in date of September 1st. Since UW does not start until mid- to late- September, most of the students prefer to start their lease period by September 1st. Existing tenants only have to give 20 days notice, so landlords are only guaranteed to know about vacancies that far in advance. This means that the best time to look for new places is just after the 10th of the month before you want your lease to start.
It's typically very stressful as a potential renter. It is a landlord's market in Seattle, meaning that there is a huge supply of renters with limited rental inventory. Each listing receives many inquiries and landlord's receive multiple rental applications per listing. The window for applying for housing is typically short. Within a week of a rental listing, multiple offers are submitted and selected by the landlord. If you find a place you like, contact the landlord, visit the place, and sign the lease as soon as possible!
What about graduate student dorms? (top)
UW-managed graduate student dorms and apartments can be found here. In June 2024, rates ranged from $1400 to $2200 a month depending on the housing configuration (e.g., 1BR, 2BR). Some benefits of on-campus housing are that they are very close to campus, and are furnished.
Where can I find roommates? (top)
Finding other grad students (inside or outside of CSE) to live with can be very helpful for lowering costs. If you're affiliated with the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science at the University of Washington, try e-mailing cs-grads@cs.washington.edu to see if others are looking for roommates. misc@cs.washington.edu is also a great mailing list (and typically subscribed to by faculty and staff in addition to grads). The incoming new-grads (at new-grads@cs.washington.edu) is a great place to search for roommates for the upcoming Autumn quarter.
On Facebook, you can join the University of Washington (UW) Housing, Sublets & Roommates group. When browsing these sites, please be cautious of scams!
How do I find the best deals? (top)
The best way is to consistently monitor Zillow or Craigslist, as good deals will appear very briefly before they are rented out. The best deals usually occur during off-rental months (such as December-April). The demand is much lower during this time, but the number of units on the market will also be lower.
What is the MFTE program? How can I take advantage of it?(top)
Seattle's MFTE program incentivizes developers to set aside apartments for income-/rent-restricted use. MFTE apartments can be found in denser areas like Capitol Hill or Roosevelt for often $150 - $250 less per month than comparable non-MFTE units. You can learn more on the MFTE program website or search for apartments on this map of MFTE units.
Recent updates to MFTE guidelines have changed and clarified students' eligibility for the program. According to the 2024 MFTE Compliance Manual, grad students can qualify either by providing their independently filed tax return from the previous year, or by completing the FAFSA or WASFA to prove they would be eligible for need-based aid. For details, see page 16 of the compliance manual linked above.
What is on the standard lease? (top)
Leases are typically 12 months in duration, but can default to to month-to-month afterwards. Some landlords may provide options for longer leases upon renewal (e.g., 15 - 16 months). It's very common that your landlord may increase the cost of rent when renewing the lease term or moving to a month-to-month lease.
Leases typically also contain additional charges: an application fee, security deposit, pet deposit (if applicable), parking, and cleaning fees on move-out.
Renters in Seattle can request to pay their move-in costs (security and pet deposits, last month rent if applicable) in up to 6 monthly installments for a 12-month lease. This can help lessen the upfront costs of moving considerably. Landlords don't have to offer this option, but do have to honor it upon request. Follow this link for more information on move-in deposits.
What are my rights as a renter? Where can I get help if I have a problem?
The Tenants Union of Washington State is an advocacy organization that offers a free tenants rights hotline and renter information sheets, including some specific to Seattle. Be:Seattle is a nonprofit centered around tenants' rights. They offer tenants' rights workshops, a contact form where you can ask questions about your rights as a renter, and a tenant research portal where you can look up an address to see if the landlord is a serial evictor or if there have been code violations there.
Do I need a car to live in Seattle?
In general, no. Many people in the Allen School and the city live car-free. The UW campus is very accessible by public transportation and bike infrastructure. Popular neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, the University District, Fremont, Roosevelt, and Wallingford are dense (for Seattle) and walkable - many amenities like restaurants, parks, and other services are within walking distance.
However, many students do choose to own cars, which are helpful for making cross-city trips, doing activities in the surrounding wilderness like hiking and skiing, or if you want to live in the more suburban neighborhoods farther from campus. Note that owning a car can be expensive, due primarily to parking fees. Street parking in the inner neighborhoods like Capitol Hill is often difficult to find, may require a paid permit, and can put your car at risk of break ins.
How is public transportation in Seattle? (top)
Seattle has two main modes of public transportation: light rail and bus. See here for an overview of the public transit system.
The Link Light Rail system connects the UW campus with Northgate, Roosevelt, U-District, Capitol Hill, Downtown, South Seattle, and the airport. The light rail is very fast and runs mostly on underground/elevated tracks. Many students live near the light rail stations in Roosevelt and Capitol Hill, and commute via light rail, and other neighborhoods farther on the line like Beacon Hill and Columbia City are also possibilities. The light rail system is rapidly expanding, and new stops will open between Northgate and Lynnwood in August 2024.
Seattle also has great bus service that covers the rest of the city, operated by King County Metro. In core neighborhoods, buses run frequently, every 15 minutes or faster. Except on certain buses at rush hour (usually downtown buses), buses are often uncrowded and move quickly.
What is the biking situation in Seattle? (top)
Seattle can be wet and hilly in places, but many of us commute via bike and use bikes to get around!
There are some good pieces of bike infrastructure around to make biking easier and safer. The Burke-Gilman trail is a great bike/pedestrian trail that links many neighborhoods with Seattle, including Ballard, Fremont, Wallingford, the U-District, Sand Point, and more. There are protected bike lanes on certain thoroughfares, such as Broadway in Capitol Hill, and Roosevelt Ave in the U-District, which make it safer to ride on the street. However, outside of protected corridors, you may have to share the road with cars, which can be dangerous. You can view the city bike network here.
Is there air conditioning (A/C) in apartments? What about heating?(top)
Air conditioning is not usually built into housing in Seattle, especially older housing. To stay cool during the summer, it's common to use a box fan to pull cool air from the outside at night. Most of the heating is forced air; heaters are typically per room or per area (instead of a central furnace).
We conducted a survey of Allen School PhD students in May 2024, asking about where they lived, and how much they paid in rent. We received 94 responses, or about 27% of the student body.
The mean rent paid by respondents was $1459, with a median of $1372, and interquartile range of $1156 - $1731 (25th percentile - 75th percentile). Though rent is higher in units with fewer bedrooms, most opt to live in studio to 2 bedroom units. Especially in 1 bedroom units, the cost is offset by sharing a room with a roommate or partner.
Most graduate students live in market-rate apartments, with smaller but still significant proportions occupying either MFTE (income-restricted) apartments or rented houses. The rent paid by students in market-rate apartments has a median of $1413 and IQR of $1250 - $1850, compared to MFTE rents with a median of $1395 and IQR of $1052 - $1679.
Grad students are distributed fairly widely across the city, but among our survey respondents, most are clustered in neighborhoods near campus: the University District, Capitol Hill, Ravenna, Wallingford, and Roosevelt.
Note that the data on the map is not comprehensive! Grad students live throughout the city; more grad students than indicated have lived in the Central District, Wallingford, Fremont, Eastlake, and South Lake Union.
Grad students commute to campus using a variety of modes. The majority of students ride the bus some of the time, and many also walk or take the Light Rail. A smaller proportion bike or drive to school. Most students use a mix of modes: many live close enough to bike or walk when the weather is nice, others take the bus or light rail (or combination), and some drive when more convenient.
Commute times range from 5 - 10 minutes, for those living in the U-District, to 50 - 60 minutes, for those living in more distant neighborhoods. The average commute was 23 minutes.
Here’s a few words (from past and current grads) about each of the neighborhoods.
University District
Capitol Hill
Eastlake
Wallingford
Fremont
Ravenna
Central District
Roosevelt
Wedgwood
Sand Point/Laurelhurst
Greenwood
Queen Anne
Northgate
Here are a few anecdotes and pieces of advice from grad students in the Allen School about how to find housing in Seattle.
Grad #1: "I remember when I first moved out to Seattle. What I ended up doing was renting an AirBnB with my family for two weeks, calling a bunch of places from Craigslist the first morning I arrived, and signing a lease that afternoon (but the lease didn't start until a week and a half later, so I made full use of the AirBnB). In retrospect, this plan worked out well enough for me, but there are lots of other options (fly out a month ahead of time and house-hunt for a week, find a place for 2-3 months and then house-hunt for a longer-term rental, live in campus housing, etc.), and I'm not sure if any one of them is better or worse than others."
Grad #2: "Housing away from campus (which is the only kind I have experience with) is generally only available within 30 days of the lease start date. This is due to the fast that most landlords in Seattle require 30 days notice before leaving a property (this applies only to independent landlords; I cannot speak to corporate managed apartment buildings, which are likely more structured). This was different from my experience in undergrad and in various other U.S. cities where availability was visible and leases were typically signed months in advance of the start date. This means, for better or for worse, that it is difficult to secure housing more than a few weeks in advance of your desired occupancy date -- so don't be discouraged if you can't find housing far in advance of moving to Seattle :)."
Grad #3: "It's next to impossible to find a decent living situation without having feet on the ground. The tour+application+background check+security deposit process can move very quickly and if you're not there to usher it through in person then most decent apartments are snatched up long before you have a chance of making your way through the process."
Grad #4: "It's likely hard to find the perfect place during your first year, so I'd actually recommend going with some commercially managed building around the hot areas (Wallingford, Roosevelt, UDistrict, UVillage etc.) first if you don't want to stress out doing housing shopping. Good options will come up later and you're in better a position to get them if you don't have time urgency."
Grad #5: "MFTE housing! The city of Seattle gives tax incentives for apartment building to designate a small number of units as low income. You can live in a brand new luxury building for low rent, which is also controlled by the city so management can’t raise it on you. You can find a list of buildings with units online."
Grad #6:
Grad #7: "Don't be worried about taking buses! Seattle public transportation is much better than the rest of the country. If possible, come get a sense of what the different neighborhoods feel like. Visiting and standing on the street at night feels very different in real life than reading about it on the internet."
Grad #8: "Seattle has microhousing and it's worth considering! Both truly micro, primarily built in the previous decade by developers like the aPodments, but also micro-ish under more recent building codes, which you'll see referred to as "Small Efficiency Dwelling Units" (SEDU). Besides these, there are backyard cottage style dwellings, called "Additional Dwelling Units" (ADUs), which are often managed by individuals/small landlords. These options are often amongst the cheapest you can find by total rent if you're renting individually, and they're also relatively new construction. If you live lightly, they're amazing."
Grad #9: "You have to decide which style to live. Living alone is actually a luxurious option for a PhD student. You'll live paycheck to paycheck and will need summer internship/double pay to cover the expenses for the rest of the year. If you think solitude is worth it, go for it and don't worry about being poor now, as you'll be paid more after you graduate. But if not, find a roommate :) And if you decide to live alone, don't forget you are low-paid enough to qualify a MFTE unit. You can find all MFTE apartments here. Find a neighborhood that you like, and just make phone calls to arrange tours. Don't waste time on apartments' websites, they are usually out of sync in terms of availability and price."
Grad #10: "It's been several years since I looked at housing by myself, but when I did, I used the following two Facebook groups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/uwoffcampushousing and https://www.facebook.com/groups/445293202296621. Those would probably still be helpful tools, especially if you're looking to find people to live with (like I was). That year, I flew out to Seattle for 4-5 days in early August, slept on the couch of a friend who was interning in Seattle that summer, and spent those days staying on top of posts in those two Facebook groups and transiting around Seattle visiting places. During those days, I ended up signing a lease that started in September and coming in as a replacement third roommate( for someone who had graduated) for a 3-bedroom apartment of grad students. I flew back home in the meantime, and actually made the move to Seattle in early September. More recently, earlier this year, when my two roommates and I were looking for a new place together, we used apartments.com and found a 3-bedroom basement rental that's worked out fine for us since then."
Grad #11: "I pay an excessive amount for rent. Luckily I do not have dependents, and my only major expense is my car (rarely fly, no expensive hobbies). My entire plan was to be net zero during grad school -- no money saved, but no debt incurred. In the end, it was possible, and I even saved a bit of money! All of this is to say that there are ways to make more expensive rent work, though it may require significant lifestyle changes. My primary suggestions are (1) use an involved budgeting app that forces you to really think about every purchase -- I personally use YNAB. (2) be open to lifestyle changes. This is different for every person. I traveled far less in grad school, for example, and severely cut down on eating out. (3) consider shopping at Costco ;)"