Top 10 College Towns In America According To The American Institute of Economic Research
12 years ago

The American Institute of Economic Research, which is a thing that ranks stuff, apparently, recently released their list of the top ten college towns in America. The list isn’t your average college town ranking, though. The SEC, long considered to be a dominant collection of quaint college towns, barely makes an appearance. But the criteria here are slightly different than normal.

-Student Concentration: number of college students per 1,000 population
-Student Diversity: percentage of student body that are non-U.S. residents
-Research Capacity: academic R&D expenditures per capita
-Degree Attainment: percent of the 25-to-34-year-old population with bachelor’s degree or higher
-Cost of Living: based upon average rent for a 2-bedroom apartment
-Arts and Leisure: number of cultural and entertainment venues per 100,000 population
-City Accessibility: percentage of workers over age 16 who commute on foot or by public transportation or bicycle
-Creative Class: percentage of workforce in the arts, education, knowledge industries, science and engineering, management and other fields
-Earning Potential: income per capita
-Entrepreneurial Activity: net annual increase in total number of business establishments per 100,000 population
-Brain Gain/Drain: year-over-year ratio of population with B.A. degree (it is only population with B.A degree, not all the college level) living in the area
-Unemployment rate

“The characteristics that make up a great college destination often make a location ideal for business, retirement and tourism,” said Steven Cunningham, director of research and education for AIER.

Hmmm, so nothing about where it’s the best to rage or tailgate? This list seems suspect to me, but my school made it on here so I’m not complaining. Without further ado, a random list ranking college stuff:

10. Columbia, MO: The University of Missouri

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9. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University

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8. Lawrence, KS: The University of Kansas

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7. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University

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6. Champagne-Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana

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5. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University

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4. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa

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3. State College, PA: Penn State University

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2. Ames, IA: Iowa State University

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1. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University and Ithaca College

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[via The Huffington Post]

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  2. The_JiffyLube_Guy

    Waxing your car is critical to protecting your paint. Nobody wants to buy a car with a fading clear coat!!!

    12 years ago at 1:02 pm
  3. duckdog

    Taking into consideration the criteria, this list works. So many traditional “College Towns” are growing outside of these criteria because of local business growth or invasive hipsters (Austin, TX, Knoxville, TN, etc.)

    12 years ago at 1:06 pm

    1. Even as a Spartan, I love Ann Arbor.

      Having said that, it’s not really a college town. More like a town with a college in it.

      12 years ago at 1:20 pm
    3. BrovWade

      ^^Ann Arbor would be shitty without the University. It’s the only reason the downtown area grew like it did at all. It’s everything a college town should be.

      12 years ago at 1:58 pm

    5. BvW: From the looks of things, all of these “college towns” are more like Michigan State: Traditional campuses and surrounding areas, rather than intertwined with the city. Not saying that model’s better (even I’ll admit the city of A-squared > city of EL, obviously), but the towns on this list seem to be almost all exclusively towns where nothing else is going on outside of student life, and not, say, next door to Google.

      12 years ago at 6:07 pm
    2. Douglas MacArthur

      Do you really think Southern townies even give you a snowball’s chance in hell of making the list?

      12 years ago at 2:40 pm
  11. Carolina Comfort

    This list is worse the Notre Dame’s showing in the National Championship game.

    12 years ago at 1:33 pm