The Boulder Student Housing Paradox

Executive summary

Boulder’s 20.3% poverty rate — nearly double Colorado’s statewide rate — is largely a product of its student population, not of structural income poverty. CU Boulder’s ~39,000 students compete with middle-income working households for the same deeply undersupplied rental units, driving up rents for permanent residents.

When Boulder enacts policies that further restrict housing supply — growth caps, discretionary review, high inclusionary obligations — the burden of that scarcity falls disproportionately on middle-income households who cannot compete with the aggregate spending power of student households supplemented by parental support.