Forget the RV. Young individuals are buying and selling in conventional houses for the yellow college buses many keep in mind from childhood as a strategy to dwell each a minimalist life-style and keep away from the rising value of proudly owning a house.
Known as “skoolies,” the rising pattern entails changing decommissioned college buses into full-time dwelling areas, mixing DIY renovation with the flexibleness of life on the highway. What started as a distinct segment mission has gained traction on-line, with 1000’s documenting their builds on TikTok, YouTube and Reddit — usually framing bus life as a less expensive, freer different to homeownership.
The rise of skoolie dwelling comes as many Gen Z and millennial Americans face hovering housing prices and restricted entry to inexpensive houses, forcing them to seek for cheaper, and generally unconventional, dwelling preparations. The nationwide common residence worth within the U.S. was $522,200 in May 2025, in line with the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development, whereas the median revenue per family was $83,730 in 2024.
For those that’ve truly taken on the problem, skoolie life is much extra sophisticated — and demanding — than social media makes it seem.
Most skoolie house owners didn’t initially got down to flip a faculty bus right into a everlasting residence. For many, the choice started with a want to dwell in another way — or just to maintain transferring.
For Jessica Krupski and Daryl O’Brien, each 39, who share their journey to their 11,000 followers below the deal with @adventure_omnibus, their objective was to go to each nationwide park within the United States. After weighing up completely different vans and RVs, they landed on a faculty bus, drawn to it by its sturdiness, comparatively low mileage and worth. They bought their bus for $4,500 from a vendor on Facebook Marketplace.
Travel nurse Alyssa Peterson, 30, took an analogous leap. She flew from South Dakota to San Diego with $8,000 in money to select up her home-on-wheels after discovering it on Craigslist, hoping cellular dwelling would align together with her short-term hospital assignments.
For influencers Jess Elena and Jake Gomez, each 25, the trail was far rockier. After realizing van life wouldn’t present sufficient area, the couple turned to a authorities public sale the place their state sells old fashioned buses. Their first buy broke down simply 20 miles from the public sale web site when the engine exploded. A second bus failed inspection, leaving them dealing with a $20,000 engine alternative estimate with no guarantee.
Despite their completely different paths, all three {couples} shared one actuality: none had the expertise required to construct a protected, livable residence from a car. But they did it anyway.
Before development may start, every bus needed to be gutted totally — seats, flooring, insulation, and home windows eliminated.
“We tore everything out,” Krupski instructed The Independent. “The flooring, the walls, the insulation. We took out every single window, resealed them, cleaned them up, made sure they were functioning, and then we started building.”
While O’Brien had a background in electrical engineering and plumbing, neither had expertise in carpentry. They turned to exterior assets — and on-line skoolie communities — to fill the hole.
“I started with a book called The DIY Skoolie Guide,” he mentioned. “It was dated, but it gave us a starting point. Then YouTube and other creators showed us different approaches we could adapt.”
Elena and Gomez additionally learnt via trial and error. Aside from Elena’s background as a school set designer, neither had technical coaching.
“Every step on a bus project is equivalent to a technical profession,” Elena added. “You have to spend hundreds of hours researching just to make sure you don’t set your bus on fire — or that it’s structurally sound.”
After 4 and a half years of constructing, Elena and Gomez have been burnt out and wanting to lastly dwell within the cellular residence they’d been working towards. While they finally cherished bus life, actuality set in rapidly. They prioritized putting in a bathe to keep away from public restrooms and shortly found points with stabilization as drawers flew open and furnishings shifted whereas driving. Parking proved to be one of many largest challenges.
“Can we even get the bus there?” Elena mentioned. “What’s the road like? Is it uphill? Full of potholes? Are there sharp turns? Is there room for another car to pass? That was the real problem.”
Peterson confronted comparable obstacles. Because she wanted to stay inside commuting distance of hospitals, discovering authorized and sensible parking choices grew to become more and more troublesome. Eventually, she switched to a fifth-wheel trailer.
“I was really restrictive on where I could park,” she mentioned. “If I had a different career and a more vagabond lifestyle, it might’ve worked, but I had to be in specific places at specific times.”
Still, she doesn’t remorse the expertise.
“I learned so much about myself living in the bus for those two years,” Peterson mentioned.
While skoolie life is usually portrayed on-line as a low-cost, carefree different to conventional housing, those that’ve lived it say the fact calls for resilience, technical talent and fixed problem-solving. For many, the bus isn’t only a residence — it’s an experiment in independence, one which reshapes how they consider area, stability, and what it actually means to dwell freely.