As Bloomington residents see a rise in the cost of food, gas and just about everything else due to inflation, housing prices have not been an exception.
Megan Hall is a senior studying nursing at IU. She says she and each of her three roommates pays $600 a month in rent and around $200 each in utilities.
She says they pay for electric, water, wifi and garbage.
But these high prices are becoming the norm in Indiana. The Hoosier state is seeing double digit increases in housing and rental costs, according to IU business analyst Matt Kinghorn.
Many houses for rent near campus are between $1000 and $4000 a month, depending on location and size. Even though housing prices are high statewide, Kinghorn says housing prices are up between 16% and 17% and increases like these haven’t been seen before in Indiana.
“You know Bloomington is a relatively small town but with a very large and stable employer and so that helps to make house prices strong,” Kinghorn said.
The United States has seen an overall inflation rate over 8% in 2022, up nearly 6.9% since 2020. Inflation is the rate in which the price of goods and services rise over a period of time.
Bloomington is now the least affordable large metropolitan area in Indiana, behind larger cities like Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and South Bend. Kinghorn says that the cost of living isn’t necessarily higher here, but it’s less affordable for the typical Bloomington resident, including students.