The BYU Guide (2026): Housing, Food & Game Days

Student Life July 10, 2026 9 min read ✓ Updated July 10, 2026

JoAnn Giordano Editor-in-Chief, Provo.com

Brigham Young University shapes Provo the way few universities shape any city. It's the largest employer in town, the reason a third of the population turns over every April and August, the engine behind the restaurant scene near campus, and — since the move to the Big 12 — the source of some of the loudest Saturday nights in the Mountain West.

Provo.com has been writing about life around BYU since we started: where students actually live, what's worth eating within walking distance of campus, how to survive a football Saturday, and what it's like to land here as a freshman, a newlywed, or a returned missionary. This page pulls all of it together in one place — a front door to Cougar country.

If you're a student (or about to be one), start with the student guides. If you're visiting for a game, an MTC drop-off, or Education Week, jump to the sections on game days and events.

Start here: the student guides

New to BYU, or helping someone who is? These are the foundational reads:

The Complete BYU Student Guide — the flagship: academics, campus culture, the Honor Code, wards, and how Provo actually works for students.
Your First Semester Survival Guide — the practical playbook for the first four months, written for both BYU and UVU students.
Moving to Provo for College — move-in day logistics, what to bring, and your first week in Utah Valley.
The Post-Mission Guide — returning to Provo and BYU after a mission is its own transition; this one's written specifically for it.
BYU vs UVU: Which School Is Right for You? — the honest comparison, for anyone still deciding between the valley's two universities.

For discounts, campus jobs, and stretching a student budget, see our student discounts guide and student jobs in Provo.

Housing near BYU

BYU is a residential campus in a way UVU is not — most students live within a couple miles of it, and the housing market around campus is its own ecosystem:

Best Apartments Near BYU — the definitive rundown of BYU-contracted housing, by area and budget.
The BYU Area Neighborhood Guide — what it's like to live in the blocks around campus, beyond the apartment listings.
Married & Family Student Housing at BYU — Wymount, Wyview, and the off-campus options for the valley's famously large married-student population.
BYU Is Rebuilding Wymount Terrace — our news coverage of the 240-apartment rebuild reshaping married housing.

You can also browse current student-friendly listings on our real estate page or run your budget through the apartment finder tool.

Food near campus

The blocks around BYU have quietly become one of the better cheap-eats corridors in Utah. Two guides cover it:

Best Food Near BYU Campus — between-class bites, budget spots under $8, and the sit-down places worth your time.
Where to Eat Before & After a BYU Game — the game-day-specific version, built around stadium crowds and timing.

Game days: football and basketball

BYU athletics in the Big 12 era is a different animal — bigger crowds, bigger opponents, and two venues that anchor the Provo sports calendar:

BYU Football Game Day Guide — LaVell Edwards Stadium from tickets to tailgating.
BYU Basketball Game Day Guide — the Marriott Center, the ROC student section, and how to do a winter game night right.
BYU Football 2026 Season Preview — the complete schedule and what to expect this fall, including the home opener at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Dybantsa vs. Peterson: the 2026 NBA Draft — our feature on the freshman phenom who put BYU basketball at the center of the sport for a season.

The events that fill Provo

A handful of BYU-anchored events reshape the whole city's rhythm each year. We build verified event pages for the big ones:

BYU Education Week — one of the largest continuing-education gatherings in the country, every August (Aug 17–21 in 2026).
BYU New Student Orientation — the week the city's population visibly changes.
BYU Football Home Opener — the first big Saturday of fall.

Browse the full Utah Valley events calendar for everything else happening around campus.

Beyond the classroom

Campus life bleeds into the mountains here. The Y Mountain Trail — the hike to the giant white Y above campus — is the single most iconic thing a BYU student can do in their first week, and our guide covers the trailhead, the switchbacks, and when to go. For everything else within reach of campus, start with free things to do in Provo and our best study spots in Provo & Orem.

The bottom line

BYU is why Provo looks, sounds, and schedules itself the way it does. Whether you're enrolling, visiting, moving a student in, or just trying to get across town on a football Saturday, the guides above are the deepest local coverage of Cougar country you'll find anywhere. And if you're on the other side of University Parkway — literally or figuratively — we built the UVU Guide too.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many students attend BYU?

Brigham Young University enrolls more than 35,000 students from over 100 countries, making it one of the largest private universities in the United States. Unlike its neighbor UVU, BYU is a heavily residential campus — most students live in Provo, within a mile or two of campus, which is why the neighborhoods surrounding BYU have one of the densest concentrations of student housing in the country.

Where is BYU located?

BYU sits in Provo, Utah, about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City, at the base of Y Mountain — the peak with the giant whitewashed 'Y' on its face. Campus is bounded roughly by University Parkway on the south and the foothills on the east. The UVX bus rapid transit line stops at campus and connects it to downtown Provo, the Provo FrontRunner station, University Place mall, and UVU in Orem.

What conference does BYU play in?

BYU joined the Big 12 Conference in July 2023 after more than a decade of football independence and West Coast Conference play in other sports. The move transformed game weekends in Provo: LaVell Edwards Stadium now hosts power-conference football Saturdays, and the Marriott Center — the largest basketball arena in the Big 12 — draws sellout crowds through the winter.

Can visitors tour BYU's campus?

Yes. BYU's campus is open to the public, and several stops are worth a visit even if you have no connection to the school: the BYU Creamery for ice cream, the Museum of Art, the Bean Life Science Museum, and the trailhead for the Y Mountain hike just east of campus. Fall football Saturdays and April graduation are the busiest visitor weekends of the year.

What is the MTC in Provo?

The Missionary Training Center (MTC), just north of BYU's campus, is where missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from around the world prepare before their assignments. Thousands of families travel to Provo each year for drop-offs, which is part of why the city's hotels, restaurants, and airport see steady visitor traffic well beyond football season.

Is BYU or UVU bigger?

UVU is bigger by headcount — it reported a record 48,670 students in fall 2025, the largest enrollment in Utah — while BYU enrolls more than 35,000. The two schools feel very different, though: BYU is private, selective, and residential; UVU is public, open-admission, and largely commuter. Our BYU vs UVU comparison breaks down how to choose between them.

JoAnn Giordano

Editor-in-Chief

JoAnn Giordano is the editor-in-chief of Provo.com. Having lived in and around Utah Valley for years, she leads the site's editorial direction with a focus on the comprehensive, honest local coverage that helps residents, students, and newcomers feel at home. When she's not shaping Provo.com's restaurant and neighborhood coverage, she's exploring the valley's trails and tracking down the best new spots on Center Street.