Off-Campus Housing & Apartments near Texas A&M University (TAMU)

Welcome to off-campus living at Texas A&M University. Whether you’re a first-year student or an upperclassman returning to TAMU, you have plenty of off-campus housing options in College Station. To help your search, ForRentUniversity.com® offers advice for students and parents, plus listings of the best apartments near Texas A&M University. If you’re new to living off campus, you probably have questions: How’s student life in College Station? What are the best neighborhoods for Texas A&M students? Read on for the details in our Texas A&M University off-campus guide.

Texas A&M University is big, and that’s no understatement. The university enrolls nearly 63,000 students in College Station. The total enrollment is about 68,500 when other campuses such as Galveston and the Health Science Center are included. All those Aggies make Texas A&M the second largest public university in the U.S., after the University of Central Florida, for on-campus enrollment.

What’s it like for a student living in College Station?

The better question might be what it’s like being a NON-student living in College Station, given that TAMU students make up more than half of the city’s population. Texas A&M and College Station are nearly synonymous. The university itself says 40,000 of its students live off campus. There’s a reason this area is known as “Aggieland.” Because of the university’s presence, College Station is well-educated. In fact, 56 percent of adults here have a bachelor’s degree, compared with 33% nationwide. College Station also is young, with a median age of 22.5. It’s important to remember, too, that College Station is part of the Bryan, Texas, metro area, which has about 250,000 people. So, when you move off campus, don’t dismiss Bryan as a potential place to live, too. Many Bryan neighborhoods are closer to TAMU than parts of College Station. On ForRentUniversity.com, you might want to sort apartments near TAMU by closest to campus. Of course, if you ever want to get away to a bigger city, College Station is well-positioned in the “Texas Triangle” – about 90 miles from Houston and 100 miles from Austin.

Is College Station Safe?

College Station has lower crime rates than Texas as a whole, according to NeighborhoodScout. The city’s violent crime rate is especially low, nearly half that of Texas. AreaVibes agrees and grades College Station a “B” on crime. As in most college towns, burglary and theft are the biggest issues for students. The Bryan Police Department offers specific tips on avoiding being a victim.

Getting Around College Station

Texas A&M Transportation Services operates both on- and off-campus bus routes. You can check out maps of the off-campus routes here to see if a route goes near an apartment community you might be considering. You also can track buses online.

Northgate

Northgate and College Heights, described below, are both along University Drive on either side of the university-owned Garden Apartments. University Drive between College Avenue and Wellborn Road is the main strip for student nightlife at Texas A&M, with dozens of restaurants, cafes, and bars, including the famous Dixie Chicken, mentioned above. Given the entertainment here and the proximity to campus, it’s not surprising that Northgate is one of the most popular neighborhoods for TAMU students living off campus. You can walk or bike to campus from Northgate, and there are a lot of student-focused apartments here. Many of the apartment complexes are along Wellborn Road behind Northgate and are actually in Bryan, not College Station.

College Heights / College Hills

College Heights, along University Drive on the other side of the Garden Apartments, may not be as much of a nightlife center as Northgate. But College Heights does have dozens of inexpensive restaurants (some of the chain variety) to keep you fueled for studying. You’ll never starve if you never leave University Avenue between Texas Avenue and Spring Loop/Lincoln Avenue. You’ll also find all the Texas A&M-branded clothing and housewares you could ever want at Aggieland Outfitters. Again, like with Northgate, if you head north of here, you’ll quickly cross into Bryan, where you’ll find more apartments.

South of Campus

This pyramid-shaped area is largely formed by George Bush Drive on the left side, Texas Avenue on the right, and Harvey Mitchell Parkway connecting them across the bottom. You’ll find apartment communities here along those roads and also along Southwest Parkway and Holleman Drive. At the northern tip of this area, around Wolf Pen Creek, you’ll find numerous shops and restaurants, not to mention The Golf Club at Texas A&M. You’ll find some more suburban-style shopping, including a Target and Walmart, as you head down Texas Avenue toward Bee Creek Park.

East of Campus

Harvey Road is the main strip here for student-friendly apartments. The road, from Texas Avenue to Earl Rudder Freeway, is lined with apartments, restaurants, and shopping, including Post Oak Mall. You’ll find even more apartments in this area along Dartmouth Street and Southwest Parkway. When you want to get into nature to take a break from studying, the highlight of this area is Wolf Pen Creek Park, which has a jogging trail, picnic areas, a disc golf course, and an amphitheater.