Unless it is primarily a college town (where landlords are trying to squeeze the most they can out of people that are going to try to pay as little as possible)

Unless it is primarily a college town (where landlords are trying to squeeze the most they can out of people that are going to try to pay as little as possible), people live with room-mates because the rent is high enough that splitting rent with 1+ people significantly reduces their expenses. Rent is not high because people are splitting the cost.