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BERKELEY — By one definition, the Southside neighborhood around the U.C. Berkeley campus is the poorest in the Bay Area. More than 67 percent of residents fall below 200 percent of the poverty line, a measure we chose as the basis for our analysis of the impacts of the housing crisis on the area’s poor.
But the 94704 ZIP code, which encompasses downtown Berkeley and the neighborhoods between the main UC campus and the Clark Kerr Campus to its southeast, is unique in other ways: Its residents are younger, are among the most highly educated in the Bay Area, and move more often.
All of those distinctions, from income to education, stem from a single characteristic: the area’s high population of UC Berkeley students. Nearly 64 percent of the ZIP code’s population is between the ages of 18 and 24, compared to just 8 percent in the rest of the Bay Area.
The median age in 94704 is 21.8, compared to the Bay Area’s 38.8. More than 66 percent of this ZIP code’s population holds a bachelor’s degree or postgraduate degree, compared to 47.4 percent in the Bay Area and 32.6 percent in California. And the median household income is $26,758, about one-quarter of the median income in the Bay Area.
The high cost Bay Area poses particular challenges for students. Many are working part-time, earning minimum wage or not working at all while they earn their degrees. A three-year-old University of California survey found that 1 in 5 students across the UC system struggle with hunger. And more than 4,000 San Jose State students reported being homeless in the past year, according to a California State University system report.
With few exceptions, most first-year students at Berkeley live on campus. But after their first year, the majority move off-campus to save money on housing. For many, off-campus housing can be much cheaper, particularly if a student can move into one of the half dozen or so nearby housing co-ops. And unlike many families, students typically have fewer belongings, need less space and can be much more flexible in their living arrangements to save money.
Mica Bellusci, a 19-year-old sophomore majoring in global studies, was paying $1,900 a month for a dorm room she shared with two other students on campus. Now that she’s moved off campus, into a shared room in an apartment not far from campus, she pays less than $1,000 a month. She works during her summer break and part-time during the school year to cover the cost.
She’s far from alone. Just three of her friends chose to continue living on campus after freshman year. The rest, she said, found apartments off campus.
Junior Kelly Schulte, 20, and senior Ella Griffith, 21, moved off-campus into a fraternity and a sorority in the 94704 ZIP code after living in the dorms during their first years. That’s saving them $6,000 and $7,000, respectively, each year.
“It’s definitely a lot cheaper to move out,” Schulte said.
The full Price We Pay series on the Bay Area’s housing crisis is available to subscribers here. Not a subscriber? For a special digital or print offer that includes unlimited access to the series and our websites, click here for The Mercury News or here for the East Bay Times.