Many young people who move to university towns are from the same region
Over 80 percent of young people who left their family home in 2025 moved to a university town other than their hometown. Most of these young people came from municipalities in the same region. In relative terms, most female students moved to Maastricht and Nijmegen, while most male students moved to Delft. This is according to figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
In 2025, nearly 32 thousand young people aged between 17 and 22 left home to live in a university town. That is almost the same number as in 2024 and 2022, but lower than in the years 2015 to 2021, when the average was 36 thousand per year.
In recent years, the number of students who stayed at home with their parents while at university has continued to rise. In 2023, however, this changed significantly: over 50 thousand people in this age group moved to a university town. The basic student grant was reintroduced in the same year, which made it easier for young people to move away from the family home.
Most of these young people moved to Amsterdam and Groningen. In 2025, over 5 thousand people aged 17 to 21 left the family home to live independently for the first time.
| 2025 (x 1,000) | 2024 (x 1,000) | 2023 (x 1,000) | 2022 (x 1,000) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam | 5.3 | 5.4 | 7.7 | 5.3 |
| Groningen | 5.1 | 5.3 | 8.5 | 4.6 |
| Utrecht | 4.0 | 3.8 | 6.4 | 4.2 |
| Rotterdam | 3.7 | 3.7 | 5.3 | 4.1 |
| Nijmegen | 3.0 | 3.1 | 4.8 | 3.0 |
| Leiden | 2.1 | 2.1 | 3.8 | 2.1 |
| Tilburg | 1.8 | 1.8 | 2.6 | 2.0 |
| Delft | 1.7 | 1.7 | 3.2 | 1.8 |
| Maastricht | 1.6 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 1.6 |
| Eindhoven | 1.3 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| Enschede | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 1.4 |
| Wageningen | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 0.8 |
Most young people stay close to where they grew up
Most young people who leave their parents’ home to move to a university town remain living in the same region. Around 30 percent of young people who moved to Amsterdam or Rotterdam were living in the same city before they left home. Those who moved to Amsterdam or Rotterdam from outside the city were also likely to come from nearby areas. Many of them were living in a municipality less than 50 kilometres away.
In other university towns, too, young people mostly come from the surrounding region. Most young people who move to Groningen are from the northern provinces. Enschede attracts young people mainly from the eastern part of the country, while Maastricht, Tilburg and Eindhoven attract students from Noord-Brabant and Limburg. Proportionally, Wageningen attracts the highest number of young people from various parts of the country.
Young people who come to the Netherlands from abroad to study (17 percent of university students) are not included in this study. In Maastricht, this share is significantly higher, at over 60 percent.
Maastricht and Groningen attract more young women, Delft more young men
The distribution of men and women varies between university towns. Little has changed in this regard over the past ten years. Proportionally, Maastricht en Nijmegen attract the highest number of young women. 66 percent of young people aged 17 to 21 who left home between 2021 and 2025 and moved to Maastricht or Nijmegen from other municipalities were women. In Leiden, Utrecht and Amsterdam, too, more than 60 percent of newcomers were women.
Slightly more women than men moved to Groningen, Wageningen, Tilburg and Rotterdam in the same period. By contrast, more men than women moved to Eindhoven, Enschede and Delft, cities that host a technical university. Over 60 percent of young people aged 17 to 21 who left their parents’ home between 2021 and 2025 and moved to Delft from other municipalities were men. The same was true for the five years prior to that.
| Universiteitsstad | Women (%) | Men (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Maastricht | 66.1 | 33.9 |
| Nijmegen | 65.7 | 34.3 |
| Leiden | 63.8 | 36.2 |
| Utrecht | 62.7 | 37.3 |
| Amsterdam | 60.8 | 39.2 |
| Groningen | 57.3 | 42.7 |
| Wageningen | 56.9 | 43.1 |
| Tilburg | 56.5 | 43.5 |
| Rotterdam | 55.3 | 44.7 |
| Eindhoven | 45.7 | 54.3 |
| Enschede | 44.4 | 55.6 |
| Delft | 39.2 | 60.8 |
Sources
- StatLine - People who moved house, in the same municipality, to another municipality, region (in Dutch)
- StatLine - People who moved house, by gender, agea and region, montly figures (in Dutch)
- StatLine - Higher education, international students, characteristics (in Dutch)
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- Dashboard - Population dashboard