Students who leave home rarely move far, CBS finds

Most young people in the Netherlands who leave home to study move to a university city in their own region, figures from the national statistics office CBS show.

Nearly 32,000 people aged 17 to 22 moved out to live in a university city in 2025. More than 80% came from a different municipality, but most had not gone far.

Amsterdam and Groningen took in the most, with 5,300 and 5,100 – the only cities to draw more than 5,000. About 30% of those who moved to Amsterdam or Rotterdam had already been living there, and many of the rest came from within 50 kilometres.

Groningen draws students mainly from the three northern provinces, Enschede from the east, and Maastricht, Tilburg and Eindhoven from Noord-Brabant and Limburg. Wageningen is the exception, taking students from across the country.
The figures count only domestic moves and leave out international students.

Around 17% of university students in the Netherlands come from abroad, a share that climbs above 60% in Maastricht.

Fewer young people are leaving home to study than a decade ago, down from an average of 36,000 a year between 2015 and 2021, as more stay put. The number spiked above 50,000 in 2023, the year the basic student grant returned and made moving out more affordable.

Where they go also splits along gender lines. Over the five years to 2025, women made up about two-thirds of new arrivals in Maastricht and Nijmegen, while the three cities with a technical university – Delft, Eindhoven and Enschede – drew more men.