EPOCH Clemson // Courtesy
EPOCH Clemson is one off-campus housing option that Clemson has to offer.
The cost of housing in Clemson has increased over the past few years, impacting the local community and students living off-campus.
This price increase is part of a statewide trend of rising housing costs.
The state of South Carolina is facing a severe housing shortage; this scarcity mostly affects extremely low-income households, which fall below the federal poverty line or 30% of their area’s median income, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
In Anderson and Pickens counties, around half of renting households are house cost-burdened. Rising prices will further affect local residents who are struggling to make ends meet.
According to a 2023 study by the South Carolina State Legislature in partnership with SC Housing, a combination of large population growth in recent years and the remaining effects of underbuilding from the Great Recession has created this shortage.
Cumulative population growth between 2010 and 2022 was 7.7% for the United States; South Carolina is nearly double the national average at 14%.
Clemson is situated in Pickens and Anderson counties, which both have a projected population change for 2020 to 2030 between 5% and 25%, according to the Palmetto State Housing Study.
This could mean one of two things: the housing shortage worsens, or developers join the market to financially gain from demand for new living spaces.
The University has also seen a population increase due to an influx of applications and enrollments. Clemson’s total enrollment for the 2024 school year was 29,077 students, which rose from 28,747 in 2023, according to the University’s interactive factbook.
Increasing rent prices have a large impact on Clemson students, with US News reporting that 59% of students are living off-campus. On-campus housing is only guaranteed for first-year and Bridge to Clemson students, according to Clemson Housing.
“I think I got a good deal on living costs because most places around Clemson are too expensive for a college student,” Amber Goff, a sophomore biochemistry major who lives off campus, told The Tiger.
According to the Colliers Student Housing Report, as of 2024, Clemson was at a 90.60% occupancy rate of beds. In addition to the inventory of 15,540 privately-owned beds, approximately 7,800 beds are located on campus.
At the time of the report, housing space for 925 students was under construction in Clemson.
On Sept. 2, Clemson City Council officially approved the building of Varsity Club Phase Three. This complex will be located next to the existing Varsity Club and will provide 524 bed spaces for both students and young professionals, according to Anderson Independent Mail.
Across the state of South Carolina, average asking rent per bed has increased from $846 in 2022 to $912 in 2024.
Emma Schnorrbusch, a junior civil engineering major, told The Tiger that “the apartments downtown feel ridiculously priced for a college apartment.”