Best College Towns & Cities in America

High school seniors face a laundry list of tasks when getting ready for college. Between standardized tests, essays and financial-aid applications, the final months before orientation can be difficult. One of the most important steps in the process is the campus visit, which often includes a tour of the city or town that will serve as the student’s home for the next several years.

Experts have argued that a school’s geographical location is just as important as a strong curriculum and supportive school environment to a student’s academic success and personal development. As student living expenses can reach up to $27,200 for a 12-month period, students should try to find the most bang for their buck. That’s especially true this year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, where money is tight for many people. While some colleges are cutting tuition costs, or at least not raising them, that’s not the case at all schools. Therefore, it’s in students’ interest to live in a city with a reasonable cost of living, as well as one that provides good academic and work opportunities. The ideal city should also provide a fun social environment to help students deal with the stress of college.

While many students aren’t living close to their campuses during the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine distribution should help turn things around in the next year. To help prospective college students narrow down their school choices and to follow up our report on 2021’s College & University Rankings, WalletHub compared more than 400 U.S. cities of varying sizes based on 30 key indicators of academic, social and economic opportunities for students. Our data set ranges from the cost of living to the quality of higher education to the crime rate.

Overall Ranking

Best College Towns & Cities

Ranking by City Size

Ask the Experts

Colleges and universities drive their surrounding areas culturally, economically and intellectually, making those places an ideal place to live for both students and nonstudents. We asked a panel of experts to share their insight and advice on the various roles of college towns. Click on the experts’ profiles to read their bios and responses to the following key questions:

1. In deciding which college to attend, how important is the surrounding city/town?
2. What are the benefits nonstudents get by living in a college city/town?
3. Are college cities/towns a good option for retirees? What about families?
4. How can parents prepare their children for managing finances in college (e.g., student loans, credit cards, etc.)?
5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of going to college in-state versus out-of-state?
6. How can local authorities make their cities/towns more appealing to both new students and other potential residents?
7. With 44% of colleges opting for primarily or fully online classes this semester, how can local authorities support college cities and towns heavily dependent on student spending?

Methodology

In order to determine the best college towns and cities in America, WalletHub examined 415 cities of varying sizes across three key dimensions: 1) Wallet Friendliness, 2) Social Environment and 3) Academic & Economic Opportunities.

We evaluated those three key dimensions using 30 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the most favorable conditions for college students. For metrics marked with an asterisk (*), we used the square root of the population to calculate the population size in order to avoid overcompensating for minor differences across cities.

Finally, we determined each town and city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

In this report, including the above tables, “cities” refers to both cities and towns for simplicity. We limited our selection of cities to those with a university or college population of at least 7,500 students. Some cities that met the college-population criterion were excluded from the analysis due to lack of available data. The cities were categorized based on the following population-size guidelines:

• Large Cities: More than 300,000 people
• Midsize Cities: 125,000 to 300,000 people
• Small Cities: Fewer than 125,000 people

Please note that we considered only the city proper in each case and excluded any cities in the surrounding metro area.

Wallet Friendliness – Total Points: 25

• Housing Costs: Full Weight (~3.33 Points)
  Note: This metric measures the price of a two-bedroom apartment rental.
• Adjusted Cost of Living for Young People: Double Weight (~6.67 Points)
• Share of Rental Units: Full Weight (~3.33 Points)
• Average Monthly Fitness-Club Fee: Half Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Average Cost of Pizza & Burgers: Half Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Movie & Bowling Cost: Half Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Cost of Higher Education: Full Weight (~3.33 Points)
  Note: This metric measures the average tuition fee weighted by the number of students.
• Student Loan Debt per Person: Full Weight (~3.33 Points)

Social Environment – Total Points: 25

• Students per Capita: Double Weight (~3.03 Points)
• Share of Population Aged 18 to 35: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
• Share of Single People: Half Weight (~0.76 Points)
• Student Gender Balance: Half Weight (~0.76 Points)
• Cafés per Capita*: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
• Breweries per Capita*: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
• Food Trucks per Capita*: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
• Shopping Centers per Capita*: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
• Sports Clubs per Capita*: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
• Presence of NCAA Division 1 Sport Teams: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
  Note: This binary metric measures the presence or absence of a NCAA Division 1 sport team in a city.
• City Accessibility: Half Weight (~0.76 Points)
  Note: This metric measures the share of workers who bike, walk or use public transportation.
• Number of Attractions: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
• Crime Rate: Double Weight (~3.03 Points)
• Average COVID-19 Cases per Capita: Triple Weight (~4.55 Points)

Academic & Economic Opportunities – Total Points: 50

• Quality of Higher Education: Triple Weight (~13.64 Points)
• Earning Potential for College Graduates: Full Weight (~4.55 Points)
  Note: This metric measures the median earnings of the population holding a bachelor’s degree or higher.
• Share of Part-Time Jobs: Full Weight (~4.55 Points)
• Median Income of Part-Time Workers: Double Weight (~9.09 Points)
• Unemployment Rate: Full Weight (~4.55 Points)
• Entrepreneurial Activity: Full Weight (~4.55 Points)
  Note: This metric measures the four-year average net change in the number of businesses per capita.
• Brain Drain: Full Weight (~4.55 Points)
  Note: This metric measures the annual change in the share of the population holding a bachelor’s degree or higher.
• Job-Growth Rate (2016-2019): Full Weight (~4.55 Points)

Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Center for Education Statistics, Numbeo, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, TransUnion, TripAdvisor, Areavibes, Yelp, The New York Times and WalletHub research.

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