College Station ranks ninth in the country for an uncluttered way of life, according to a study StorageCafe released Sept. 15. Only one other Texas city, Plano, placed higher.
StorageCafe, a website that lists self-storage units, scored 345 U.S. cities on 20 measures for its Uncluttered Living Index. They range from home sizes and housing costs to commute times, parks, health and crime. The top of the list was Plano, followed by Boise, Idaho, and Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Space at home, and time on the road
College Station's biggest strength was room. The city ranked 35th of 345 in the study's "room to breathe at home" category, which covers apartment and household size, self-storage space and housing costs.
The study's data puts the average apartment at 972 square feet, larger than in Plano, Frisco, Allen or McKinney. It counts about 8.1 square feet of self-storage space per resident, which StorageCafe called well above the national norm, at an average rent of $109. The typical house price in the data is $346,700.
The study also pointed to the city's short commute, an average of 17.4 minutes, and said College Station had the lowest cost of living among its top 20 cities. That measure is based on grocery prices. It ranked College Station 27th for safety and environment.
StorageCafe also credited the city's distance from the big metro corridors, and said things get quieter still when students are away on breaks and over the summer.
