11 Universities Where Most Freshmen Commute

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Most first-year students go through a significant adjustment as they transition to college life, but those who commute often experience an additional set of challenges.

Commuters may face long travel times, financial stress from having to buy things like gas and food, and limited schedule options for classes and student groups, for example. Students who commute, especially as freshmen, may also feel they are missing out on the full college experience and deal with feelings of isolation when they see their peers living on campus.

However, students who commute freshman year may find support and solidarity among fellow commuter students, and at some colleges, a majority of first-year students live off campus or commute.

[See: Don’t Make These 10 Freshman Mistakes in College.]

Among these 11 National Universities — schools that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and doctoral programs — an average of about 78% of first-time, first-year students lived off campus or commuted in 2018-2019. At 98%, CUNY–City College had the highest percentage of first-year students living off campus or commuting among the 308 ranked National Universities that responded to a U.S. News survey.

These colleges with the most freshman commuters are located in states across the country: California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Ohio.

The average percentage of first-year students who lived off campus or commuted among all ranked National Universities that reported this data is much lower, at about 21%. Some colleges require students to live on campus freshman year and many guarantee on-campus housing to first-year students.

[Read: What to Ask About a College’s First-Year Experience.]

Below is a list of the 11 National Universities with the highest percentages of first-year students who lived off campus or commuted for the 2018-2019 school year, including ties. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report. This data was gathered prior to the coronavirus pandemic, which may affect the number of students who choose to live off campus or commute in the coming academic year.

School (state)	Percentage of first-year students living off campus or commuting	Total estimated first-year commuters	U.S. News rank
CUNY–City College	98%	1,793	228 (tie)
Louisiana Tech University	95%	2,072	272 (tie)
California State University–Fresno	87%	2,834	211 (tie)
University of Michigan–Flint	78%	500	293-381
Florida International University	77%	3,035	218 (tie)
University of New Mexico	76%	1,973	218 (tie)
University of New Orleans	75%	752	293-381
Rutgers University–Newark (NJ)	73%	962	132 (tie)
Northern Kentucky University	69%	1,343	293-381
University of Illinois–Chicago	67%	2,753	132 (tie)
Cleveland State University	67%	1,304	293-381

Don’t see your school on the list? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find off-campus living and commuting data, complete rankings and much more. Sign up for the U.S. News Extra Help: College Admissions free email newsletter to receive expert advice twice a month.

U.S. News surveyed more than 1,900 colleges and universities for our 2019 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’ data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The off-campus living and commuting data above is correct as of July 28, 2020.