Welcome to Baltimore!
Charm City sits on the East Coast of the USA, about 45 minutes north of Washington DC and 90 minutes south of Philadelphia. This unique city is home to dynamic art, design, and music scenes that thrive with a DIY ethic. Check out BmoreArt, a leading resource for contemporary art and culture in the Baltimore region, to get a sense of the creative community.
Take a deeper virtual dive into the (other) City by the Bay.
Planning your Student Housing
MICA is surrounded by unique and varied neighborhoods that provide ample off-campus housing -- and limited on-campus housing is available for graduate students as well. Many graduate students choose to live off-campus. We've provided some information below to help you start the research process. Your Graduate Admission Counselor is available to help answer your questions also!
Off-Campus Housing
MICA doesn't have formal relationships with off-campus housing partners, but the Office of Graduate & Professional Admission is here to help!
Download our off-campus housing and neighborhood guide to start exploring.
The Office of Residence Life has also prepared an off-campus housing guide to help students prepare for living off-campus in Baltimore; this is a good place to start the research process.
The Graduate Admission team recommends consulting the Live Baltimore site for specific information about the neighborhoods near MICA and around Baltimore as you begin your research. We generally recommend identifying a neighborhood in which you would prefer to live first, and then looking for specific housing options. Craigslist Baltimore has been a reliable resource in Baltimore for several years now: that is a great way to begin pricing out apartments in advance of moving to Baltimore.
Graduate Admission also runs a Facebook Group that connects incoming students with current students and recent alumni to aid in the apartment hunting process. The group is moderated to reduce clutter and eliminate spam. To connect with other incoming students or current students to chat about housing, be sure to join the MICAgrad 2026 Discord server.
Recommended Neighborhoods
To get you started on your research, here are a few popular neighborhoods. When you're looking at housing, you will find that most listings are organized by neighborhood.
Walking Distance from MICA's Campus and Studio Center:
Bus, Bike or Car Distance from Campus and Studio Center:
On-Campus Housing
The Office of Graduate & Professional Admission partners with the Office of Residence Life to work with students that prefer to live on-campus. New graduate students can submit a housing application as early as May, once new student accounts and emails are issued.
Submit your on-campus housing application here.
MICA hosts graduate students in the Gateway Residence Hall, located on MICA's main campus, where undergraduate upper-class students are also hosted. Each unit houses three to four graduate students (with private bedrooms).
Due to limited space on-campus, we recommend applying for on-campus housing as soon as possible. Applications for on-campus housing are evaluated in the order they are received. Special consideration is given to international students.