Berkeley, Davis and Auburn Named "Best College Towns for Renters" by ApartmentRatings.com

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - May 26, 2011) - With college graduation season in full swing, ApartmentRatings.com (www.apartmentratings.com), the leading website for user reviews of apartments around the United States, today released its annual rankings of renter satisfaction for the 100 largest college towns and college cities in the country.

Topping this year's list is Berkeley, Calif., home to the University of California-Berkeley, the oldest university in California's University of California system. The university's 35,000 students enjoy a picturesque, small-town feel in the city of about 100,000. Though housing costs can be higher than many other college towns, Berkeley offers numerous public transit options and is extremely pedestrian and bicycle friendly -- an ideal situation for college students.

Berkeley takes the top spot from Davis, Calif., last year's winner, which drops to the #2 spot this year. Berkeley was excluded from last year's rankings because of a lack of review for apartment buildings in the area.

Other top-rated college towns include:

• Auburn, Ala. (Auburn University)
• Buffalo, N.Y. (SUNY at Buffalo)
• Ann Arbor, Mich. (University of Michigan)
• Madison, Wis. (University of Wisconsin)
• Raleigh, N.C. (North Carolina State University at Raleigh)
• Milwaukee, Wis. (University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee)
• Boulder, Colo. (University of Colorado at Boulder)
• Tucson, Ariz. (University of Arizona)

The full list of college towns included in the rankings can be viewed at http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/2011collegetownrankings.

At the bottom of the list was Boston, home to Boston University and Northeastern University. The city received numerous ratings indicating difficult parking, old and poorly maintained apartment buildings, and high rents. Cambridge, Mass., home to Harvard University and recipient of the bottom spot on last year's list, rose several spots in this year's rankings.

"The fact that this year's rankings vary considerably from last year's demonstrates that the market for apartments in college towns is dynamic and constantly changing," said Michael Egan, general manager of ApartmentRatings.com. "We hope that this data -- freshly reported by current renters in college towns -- helps college students and their parents make an informed decision when it comes to college housing."

The College Town Renter Satisfaction Rankings were determined by tabulating overall satisfaction scores from thousands of user-submitted ratings provided in the full year of 2010 for apartment buildings in the cities and towns of the 100 largest four-year colleges and universities in the United States. In addition to overall satisfaction, users on ApartmentRatings.com can rate their rental experience on a number of specific factors including noise, safety and maintenance, as well as leave comments about their own experience living in the buildings.

About ApartmentRatings.com
Launched in 2000, ApartmentRatings.com is the largest online rating community for rental housing. The goal of ApartmentRatings is to help renters make an informed renting decision. As an independent resource for renters, ApartmentRatings' reviews provide a realistic insider's perspective of apartment communities because they are in renters' own words. The site is among the top five most-visited apartment hunting sites in the world, and features more than 1 million ratings.