A rental near UMass Amherst needs to fit both the household's agreement and the actual campus journey. Distance to a campus boundary is not the same as the time required to reach a building, park or transfer. Start with the lease period and destination, then compare complete housing packages.
What should you check in a listing?
Identify whether the advertised price is for a bedroom or the whole unit, which fees are included and how long the agreement lasts. UMass's off-campus housing resource offers search tools but states that listings are not university certification of the properties. Verify the actual landlord or authorized agent, inspect the dwelling through a reliable process and review the agreement. A listing on a familiar platform is a starting point for research, not completion of the property and contract checks.
How should the lease fit the academic timetable?
Compare the actual start and end dates with the period you need housing. Ask about the full-year obligation, changes in occupants and any permission needed for another person to use the space. Identify who is responsible under the agreement if a roommate leaves. Utilities, deposits and moving or storage costs also need to be accounted for. A lower monthly rent can become a different total expense when the agreement covers more months or requires another move during the year.
Which trip should you test from Amherst, Hadley or Sunderland?
Use the actual campus destination and arrival time, including the last walking segment and any parking or transfer. Check the current operator's schedule if using transit, because service can vary by day and period. The survey commute data below does not predict a campus journey. The federal rent standard is also an area benchmark rather than a quote for student housing. Compare actual lease packages and routes instead of treating either public average as a personal estimate.
What does the local record show?
These towns provide local context for the decision in this article. The figures describe the published records and survey periods identified below. Compare the same measures across places, then confirm the details of any actual home before using them in a budget or offer.
Local Figures for This Decision
Download CSV, same columns, same definitions
Selected municipalities, shown alphabetically. Definitions below distinguish assessments, administrative benchmarks and survey estimates from current market quotes.
| Town | Two-bedroom Rent Standard | Rent-burdened Households | Mean Commute Minutes | Most Common Heating Fuel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amherst | $2,004 | 65.9% | 19 | electricity |
| Hadley | $2,004 | 34.2% | 21.3 | heating oil |
| Sunderland | $1,866 | 72.1% | 18.9 | electricity |
What These Columns Mean
- Town
- Municipality; follow its record below for the full data and address check.
- Two-bedroom Rent Standard
- HUD's monthly two-bedroom fair market rent for the relevant area, including its treatment of tenant-paid utilities. It is an administrative benchmark, not a town asking-rent median, available apartment or individual voucher payment standard.
- Rent-burdened Households
- Published survey estimate of renter households spending more than 30 percent of income on housing. This describes the survey's households and period, not what a new applicant can borrow or pay.
- Mean Commute Minutes
- Survey mean travel time to work for workers who travel to work. This is not a drive-time prediction to a chosen employer, a rush-hour estimate or a promise about a particular route.
- Most Common Heating Fuel
- Largest publishable household heating-fuel category in the survey. It describes the town's mix, not the equipment, fuel bills or service options at a specific home.
Cite: RE413. “Local Figures for This Decision.” Updated September 19, 2026. https://www.re413.com/news/renting-near-umass-amherst/, underlying sources at https://www.re413.com/sources/.
Amherst's town record. Two-bedroom rent standard: $2,004. Rent-burdened households: 65.9%. Mean commute minutes: 19. Most common heating fuel: electricity.
Hadley's town record. Two-bedroom rent standard: $2,004. Rent-burdened households: 34.2%. Mean commute minutes: 21.3. Most common heating fuel: heating oil.
Sunderland's town record. Two-bedroom rent standard: $1,866. Rent-burdened households: 72.1%. Mean commute minutes: 18.9. Most common heating fuel: electricity.
Shared rent figures can reflect a shared federal rent area. They do not establish that apartments in those towns ask the same rent. Compare actual leases with the same bedroom count and utility responsibilities; the administrative standard is only a reference point.
What should you check next?
- Confirm whether pricing is per bedroom or per unit and verify the listing and authorized rental contact.
- Match the entire lease period and occupant responsibilities to the household's real timetable.
- Test the complete campus trip and compare rent, utilities and moving costs over the same period.
Keep the address, document date and source alongside each answer. If records disagree, identify which period and property each describes before treating the difference as a change. A missing result leaves a question open; it does not establish that a property has no problem or no cost.
Where can you continue the comparison?
Browse all housing guides by subject.
Open the linked town records for the wider context, including sources and dates. Use the property-specific records to narrow a decision, and keep current quotes separate from the historical figures used to explain it here.
Which official guidance supports this article?
- UMass Amherst: off-campus housing resources. Guidance checked 2026-09-05; confirm current requirements for your transaction.
- Massachusetts Attorney General: landlord and tenant rights. Guidance checked 2026-09-05; confirm current requirements for your transaction.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. two-bedroom rent standard. Figures through FY2026. Checked 2026-08-05.
- U.S. Census Bureau, housing-cost survey. rent-burdened households. Figures through 2023. Checked 2026-08-05.
- U.S. Census Bureau, commuting survey. mean commute minutes. Figures through 2023. Checked 2026-08-05.
- U.S. Census Bureau, housing survey. most common heating fuel. Figures through 2020–2024 survey window. Checked 2026-08-05.
"Figures through" is the period the publisher's data describes; "checked" is only when we last asked. The full sourcing: sources and method.