College Station least affordable place to live? Not so fast, local experts say

​COLLEGE STATION – A recent Bloomberg study ranked College Station as the least affordable place in the U.S. to live based on the percentage of household income going toward monthly rent.

The study used data from 2012 through 2016, and only U.S. cities with more than 60,000 people were considered.

According to Bloomberg, College Station’s median rent of $904 accounts for 46 percent of a household’s income.

Some local experts question the study.

"When you have a town, a college town, with some 63,000 students that work little or not at all, that is definitely going to skew the numbers," said Realtor Cherry Ruffino.

Real Estate Center Chief Economist Dr. Jim Gaines agrees, saying students bring either low or nonexistent incomes to the study.

Other college towns near the top of the list were Auburn (Alabama), Iowa City (Iowa), and Bloomington (Indiana).​