Living in Bloomington

Cost of Living Information*

Here are some facts about Bloomington, which may be particularly useful for international students considering an offer to graduate study at Indiana University.

  • The Bloomington area is located in the gently rolling wooded hills of southern Indiana. The Bloomington area has roughly 100,000 residents, and is located 50 miles southwest of Indianapolis, the capital of Indiana.
  • Bloomington is generally regarded as an excellent place to live. Bloomington was selected as one of the Eight Most Desirable Places to Live in the US, by the Rand McNally company. This was based on the following factors: cost of living, housing, climate, personal safety, services and leisure activities.
  • Bloomington was chosen as one of the Top Ten College Towns in America by Edward Fiske, former education editor for the New York Times.
  • A recent cost of living study of sixteen US cities with major graduate schools listed Bloomington as the least expensive place to live. For comparison, a graduate stipend of $14,000 in Bloomington is roughly equivalent to a stipend of $16,360 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a stipend of $17,530 in Chicago, $19,650 from a graduate school in Boston, $23,690 from a school in San Francisco, or $32,580 from a school in New York City! (see the table below).
  • For graduate students with children, the Bloomington school district was selected as one of the top two school districts in Indiana, in a 1993 study.
  • Bloomington is a safe location which provides many services for its residents. Many bicyclists and hikers take advantage of the rolling hills in the area. Bloomington is renowned for its classical music, recreational activities at nearby national forests and Lake Monroe, and both cross-country and downhill skiing at nearby locations.

Cost of Living Index at Selected Cities
Source: American Chamber of Commerce, 1996

City

Composite Index

Bloomington

97.1

Ann Arbor, MI

113.5

Boston, MA

136.3

Chapel Hill, NC

100.5

Chicago, IL

121.6

Los Angeles, CA

115.7

New Haven, CT

127.4

New York, NY

226.0

San Francisco, CA

164.3

Washington, DC

124.3

[The cost-of-living index gives a rough guide to the relative costs of living in various areas. The index compares average costs for housing, food, transportation, consumer goods and other expenses. The lower the number, the less expensive it is to live in a given city.]

Finding off-campus housing

Off-campus housing includes apartments, houses, townhomes, and single rooms within houses for rent - all of which can be either furnished or unfurnished. A few of the following websites give more information about renting in Bloomington as well as listings.

*borrowed with permission from the Physics Department website

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