10 best, worst college towns
Austin is the best overall college town in the U.S., while Scottsdale, Ariz., ranked No. 1 for academic and economic opportunities, according to an Oct. 20 ranking from personal finance website WalletHub.
The ranking evaluated 415 cities across 31 metrics in three categories: wallet friendliness, social environment, and academic and economic opportunities. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with higher scores indicating more favorable conditions for college students. Weighted averages were used to calculate overall scores.
Metrics in the academic and economic opportunities category included quality of higher education, earning potential for college graduates, job growth rate and unemployment rate.
Several cities in WalletHub’s top 10 also appeared on an April LinkedIn ranking of the fastest-growing cities for new graduate jobs, including Austin, Texas; Atlanta; Orlando and Tampa, Fla.; and Charleston, S.C.
Here are the 10 best and worst college towns and cities in the U.S., according to WalletHub, with their academic and economic opportunities rankings in parentheses:
10 best
1. Austin, Texas (15)
2. Ann Arbor, Mich. (33)
3. Charlottesville, Va. (30)
4. Raleigh, N.C. (72)
5. Atlanta (93)
6. Tampa, Fla. (149)
7. San Diego, Calif. (12)
8. Scottsdale, Ariz. (1)
9. Orlando, Fla. (145)
10. Charleston, S.C. (101)
10 worst
406. Azusa, Calif. (247)
407. Palmdale, Calif. (227)
408. Germantown, Md. (157)
409. Daly City, Calif. (92)
410. Inglewood, Calif. (169)
411. Kendall, Fla. (100)
412. Norwalk, Calif. (205)
413. Carson, Calif. (206)
414. East Los Angeles, Calif. (273)
415. Compton, Calif. (306)
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