Choosing the best place to rent in Athens, Ohio, ultimately comes down to your own personal needs. Athens has a variety of housing, from historical old houses to recently built condos. What are you looking for? Want a place close to the nightlife? Uptown Athens rentals are probably a good choice, close to Court Street with plenty of restaurants, while not being too far from campus. Looking for a place out of town, in the country? There are rentals close to OU, 10 minutes out of town, where you can barely see your neighbors. Want a place in town that’s far enough from the partying scene that you can still get some studying done? There are rentals available in family neighborhoods that are less distracting.
See What We Have to Offer
Take a look at what we have available at Krause Rentals. We have an extensive list of properties that have something for everyone. What are the best apartments to rent in Athens, Ohio? It depends on your needs. We feature enough variety that you can find the perfect rental to match.
Size Matters
When selecting your new apartment or home, the very first thing you should think about is how many roommates you’ll be living with.
If you prefer to ride solo, go with a studio apartment or a 1-bedroom apartment in Athens, Ohio. These are pricier but give you the privacy and intimacy you’re seeking.
The next tier is where most fall, two-bedroom apartments and three and four-bedroom options. These either come in traditional apartment styles (i.e., being in a building or complex instead of a free-standing structure) or as smaller compartments, sections, or floors of larger homes. These units are good if it’s just you and a few friends kickin’ it, and you don’t want anything too big. If you need more space, 3-bedroom apartments in Athens give you room to spread out while keeping costs split reasonably between roommates.
Lastly, there are the five and six-bedroom rentals. Five-bedroom houses for rent in Athens are usually entire houses, and you’ll probably be living somewhat ‘Animal House’-esque, so be warned. These are not for the faint of heart, but are for those who are social at their core. Though these spots can get crowded, they do often come with benefits, like parking or a yard.
Location, Location, Location
After deciding what size apartment you want, the next step is to figure out where exactly you’d like to live.
It’s somewhat tied to size – you won’t find many five-bedroom rentals on Court Street, nor will you likely find any studio apartments on Mill Street. But assuming you can find the size you want on the street you want, here are some tips for deciding.
- Court Street is central to everything. If you want to be close to campus, close to restaurants, and in the middle of the action on any given weekend, this is your best bet. The tradeoff is noise; Court Street doesn’t quiet down early, and if you’re a light sleeper or need to actually get studying done at home, that’s worth factoring in.
- Mill Street is mostly houses with four, five, and six bedrooms apiece. These homes usually have sizeable yards and come with parking. The street can get rowdy, especially around Mill Fest, but outside of that, it’s a solid option for a larger group that wants space without being right on top of campus.
- Congress and High Street are similar to Mill in terms of size but tend to be quieter outside of Fest Season. These units are still near campus while offering the benefits of a full house. Parking is harder to find here because of the topography, but the payoff is the view. If you want an Athens, Ohio rental with a view, sitting up on the hill gives you some of the best sunrises and sunsets in the city.
- Carpenter Street and Franklin Avenue are quieter and farther off campus. Come here if you want to actually feel like you live in a neighborhood rather than a college rental corridor. It’s a good fit for grad students, people with pets, or anyone who’s done with the uptown chaos but still wants to stay within the city.
What to Know About the Athens Rental Market Before You Start Looking
Athens is not an easy place to rent, and if you’re coming in expecting otherwise, you’ll be disappointed fast. The rental market here is tight, demand is high because of Ohio University, inventory is limited, and most of the good places get picked up well before the fall semester starts. If you’re looking for a place for August, you should realistically be searching in January or February. Waiting until spring puts you in competition with everyone else who waited too long.
A few things worth knowing going in:
Rent by the unit, not the bedroom. A lot of Ohio University student rentals charge per bedroom, which sounds fine until you do the math. When you’re looking at listings, make sure you know whether the price listed is per person or for the whole unit.
The best places often don’t get publicly listed. A significant portion of the better rentals in Athens change hands through word of mouth, a friend of a friend who’s graduating passes their place along. If you have any connections in Athens, ask around. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s how a lot of people find the places that don’t show up online.
If you’re a grad student or a non-student renter who wants something that doesn’t feel like it was designed for undergrad turnover, try framing your search around “graduate housing” rather than student housing. It opens up different results and different conversations with landlords.
What to Do Before You Sign Anything
Athens has its share of landlord horror stories. Before you sign a lease anywhere, take pictures of every room on move-in day, walls, floors, fixtures, appliances, everything. Send them to your landlord the same day, so there’s a timestamped record. This matters because deposit disputes are common, and without documentation, you have no leverage.
Read the lease carefully before signing. Look specifically at what’s included in rent, water, trash, electric, and heat, because “utilities not included” can add a lot to your monthly cost depending on the unit and the season. Older buildings with gas heat tend to have lower electric bills in winter. Newer construction with electric everything can get expensive.
Ask about maintenance response times before you commit. A landlord who takes two weeks to fix a broken heater in January is a problem worth knowing about before you’re already locked into a lease. If you can talk to a current or former tenant about their experience, do it.
And if something feels off during a showing, the landlord is evasive, the unit smells musty, and obvious repairs are being glossed over, trust that instinct. Athens has enough options that you don’t have to settle for a place that’s going to cause you headaches all year.