CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY (Parenthetical) - $ / shares	3 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2020	Mar. 31, 2020	Jun. 30, 2019	Mar. 31, 2019
Distributions to common and restricted stockholders and other (in dollars per common share)	$ 0.47	$ 0.47	$ 0.47	$ 0.46
AMERICAN CAMPUS COMMUNITIES OPERATING PARTNERSHIP LP
Distributions to common and restricted unit holders and other (in dollars per common unit)	$ 0.47	$ 0.47	$ 0.47	$ 0.46

Per unit of ownership amount of cash distributions declared to unit-holder of a limited partnership (LP).

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.3-04)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120397183&loc=d3e187085-122770

Name:	us-gaap_DistributionMadeToLimitedPartnerDistributionsDeclaredPerUnit
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration