Tampa Named 2nd Best College City In Nation; How Your City Ranked

TAMPA, FL ? Students attending college in Tampa can rest assured they made a good choice ? at least in terms of keeping expenses low while receiving a good educational experience.

In its report released Tuesday on 2022?s Best & Worst College Towns & Cities in America, the personal finance website WalletHub, ranked Tampa the second best in the country for large college cities, behind Austin, Texas.

Wallethub's College & University Rankings aims to determine the towns and cities that provide students with the best living conditions even in these difficult times. To help college-bound high school seniors determine their future home for the next several years, WalletHub compared more than 400 U.S. cities ? also grouped by city size ? based on 30 factors related to academic, social and economic growth potential. The data set ranges from the cost of living to the quality of higher education to the crime rate.

Best Large College Cities (with populations of more than 300,000)

1. Austin, Texas
2. Tampa
3. Raleigh, North Carolina
4. Pittsburgh
5. Seattle
6. Atlanta
7. Miami
8. Columbus, Ohio
9. Las Vegas
10. Cincinnati

Also making the list of large cities was Jacksonville, ranked 19.

Best Midsize College Cities
1. Orlando
2. Gainesville
3. Scottsdale, Arizona
4. Irvine, California
5. Tempe, Arizona
6. Salt Lake City, Utah
7. Reno, Nevada
8. Madison, Wisconsin
9. Boise, Idaho
10. Charleston, South Carolina

Also making the list of medium cities were Tallahassee (16), Fort Lauderdale (50), St. Petersburg (53), Port St. Lucie (56), Cape Coral (70), Coral Springs (97), Hollywood (103), Pembroke Pines (113), Hialeah (133) and Miramar (144).

Best Small College Cities
1. Ann Arbor, Michigan
2. Provo, Utah
3. Oxford, Ohio
4. West Lafayette, Indiana
5. Rexburg, Idaho
6. College Station, Texas
7. Orem, Utah
8. Chapel Hill, North Carolina
9. Ithaca, New York
10. Princeton, New Jersey

Also making the list of small cities were Boca Raton (16), Coral Gables (98), Lakeland (107), West Palm Beach (133), Davie (141), Daytona Beach (155), Sunrise (164), Kendall (168), Brandon (180), Miami Gardens (196).

Education experts have maintained 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 reach up to $28,720 for a 12-month period, students are looking for college towns where they can get the most bang for their buck.

That?s especially true in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with money especially tights for many families. Some colleges are cutting tuition costs, or at least not raising them. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced last week that public universities in Florida will not be permitted to raise tuition rates.

But, that?s not the case at all schools.

WalletHub's experts, which included four college professors and one college department chairman, said it?s in a student's best 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.

In their analysis, the experts discovered that not all college towns or cities are equal.

• Richmond, Virginia, has the lowest cost of a two-bedroom apartment rental, $732 per month, which is 4.4 times lower than in San Francisco and Daly City, California, the cities with the highest at $3,198 per month.
• Brownsville, Texas, has the lowest cost-of-living index for young people, 75.32, which is three times lower than in Stanford, California, the city with the highest at 224.59.
• Savannah, Georgia, has the lowest cost of higher education, $17,414 per year, which is 4.7 times lower than in Evanston, Illinois, the city with the highest at $81,283 per year.
• Stony Brook University, New York, has the most enrolled students (per 1,000 residents), 952, which is 23.2 times more than in Cape Coral, the city with the fewest at 41.

In naming Tampa the second-best large city for college students, the experts ranked such factors as:

• Wallet friendliness, including housing costs, adjusted cost of living for young people, share of rental units, average cost of pizza and burgers, cost of higher education and student loan debt.
• Social environment including the number of cafes, food trucks, breweries, sports clubs and shopping centers, the share of population age 18 to 35, share of single people, student gender balance, number of attractions, crime rate, accessibility and vaccination rates.
• Academic and economic opportunities including the earning potential of graduates, quality of education, unemployment rate, number of part-time jobs, entrepreneurial support, population with a bachelor's degree or higher and job growth.

As to deciding which college to attend, the ability to obtain financial aid is a major factor for students. On average, tuition and room and board at a four-year college costs around $27,000 - $55,000 per year.

WalletHub also compared 1,000 higher education institutions to determine the top-performing schools at the lowest possible costs to undergraduates in its Colleges and Universities Ranking Report released in October, the time when high school seniors begin sending out college applications.

To determine the top-performing schools at the lowest possible costs to undergraduates, WalletHub student selectivity, cost and financing and career outcomes. The metrics range from student-faculty ratio to graduation rate to post-attendance median salary.

How did Tampa Bay's institutions of higher learning stack up compared to the country's top 10 universities ranked in this order: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Yale University, Rice University, Northwestern University, Duke University, Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University. Ivy League colleges including Harvard, Yale, Princeton and MIT?

• University of Florida ranked 22
• Florida State University ranked 55
• University of Miami ranked 100
• Florida Polytechnic University ranked 119
• University of South ranked 131
• University of Central Florida 143
• Florida International University ranked 194
• Florida Southern College ranked 213
• Florida A&M University ranked 220
• University of West Florida ranked 412
• University of North Florida 443
• Florida Institute of Technology 492

In case you were wondering, Rollins College, the University of Tampa, Saint Leo University, Eckerd College, Bethune-Cookman University, Ringling College of Art & Design, New College, Stetson University, Flagler College, Barry University, Florida National University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University weren't included in WalletHub's ranking.

Students can visit the college ranking website, Niche's, report, 2022 Best Colleges in Florida, to see how these colleges fared.

See related stories:

• University Of Tampa Makes List Of 25 Safest Campuses In America
• U.S. News Ranks USF Among Top 50 Public Universities In Nation