NYU Off-Campus Housing: Where to Live and What It Costs

Where the Two Campuses Are

NYU’s main campus is the blocks around Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The Tandon School of Engineering is in Downtown Brooklyn, at MetroTech Center. They are one direct train apart: the A, C and F all run from West 4th Street to Jay Street–MetroTech in about 15 minutes.

That matters if you have classes in both places. A room near either end of that ride, or anywhere along it, works for both.

Neighborhoods Students Commonly Choose

Rents below are StreetEasy’s median asking rent, October 2026, for the whole apartment. The room figure is the three-bedroom median divided by three, which is a rough guide and not a quote: rooms in one apartment are rarely priced equally.

• Greenwich Village: the campus itself. Walk to class. Studio $4,200, one-bedroom $5,915.
• East Village: a 10 to 15 minute walk east of the park, with the 6 at Astor Place and the L along 14th Street. Studio $3,345, three-bedroom $8,120, so about $2,707 a room.
• Lower East Side: the F at Delancey Street and 2nd Avenue, two or three stops from West 4th Street. Three-bedroom $8,520, about $2,840 a room.
• Chinatown: the B and D at Grand Street and the 6, N, Q, R and W at Canal Street. Three-bedroom $7,160, about $2,387 a room.
• Williamsburg: the L from Bedford Avenue reaches Union Square in about ten minutes, then it is a ten-minute walk or one stop south. Three-bedroom $6,630, about $2,210 a room.
• Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene: next to the Brooklyn campus, and one train to Washington Square. Downtown Brooklyn studio $3,585; Fort Greene three-bedroom $5,820, about $1,940 a room.
• Bushwick: farther out on the L, roughly 20 minutes to Union Square from Jefferson Street. Three-bedroom $4,435, about $1,478 a room.

• Sublets for Students
• NYC Rent by Neighborhood

Do the Math for the Year

A lease is usually twelve months, even though classes run about nine. A room at $2,707 a month is $32,484 for the year ($2,707 times 12). The same kind of room in Bushwick at $1,478 is $17,736. The difference is $14,748 a year, in exchange for a longer ride.

If you go home for the summer, you can sublet your room for those months with your landlord’s written approval, which changes the math again.

• Lease Ends in August, Leaving in May
• Splitting Rent with Roommates

When to Look

New York apartments are usually listed about a month before they are available, not a semester ahead. For a lease that starts in late August or September 1, the serious search is in July and early August. Earlier than that, spend the time agreeing on a budget and roommates and getting your documents ready.

Sublets run on a different clock. Rooms for the spring semester appear in November and December, when students confirm study abroad plans. Summer rooms appear from March through May.

• NYC Apartment Application Documents
• The 40x Rent Rule and Guarantors

What NYU’s Off-Campus Housing Office Offers

NYU has an official Off-Campus Housing website. According to NYU, students can use it to search rental listings, find roommates, post a room for sublet and read renter resources, and NYU’s housing page calls it the first stop for students planning to live off campus. The site also has information on guarantor options for students who do not have a qualifying guarantor (someone who promises to pay the rent if you cannot).

Sublet Buddy is not affiliated with NYU. Use the university’s site alongside any other search, and confirm details with NYU directly because services change.

Before You Sign Anything

1. See the apartment in person or on a live video call. Photos are not enough.
2. Time the trip to your first class from the front door, not from the station.
3. Ask what the rent includes: heat and hot water usually are, electricity and internet usually are not.
4. Read the lease for the dates, the names on it and the subletting clause.
5. Pay in a way that leaves a record, and never before you have seen the place.

• How to Avoid Sublet Scams in NYC