Tampa Tops List Of Best College Cities In U.S.A.

TAMPA, FL—There’s good news for high school seniors planning to attend college close to home.

The personal finance website, WalletHub, released its report today on 2018’s Best & Worst College Towns & Cities in America, and Tampa ranked third on the list of Best Large College cities.

With college application season now in full swing, WalletHub decided to help students determine their future homes for the next four years by comparing 400 U.S. cities. Wallethub based its comparison on 28 indicators of academic, social and economic growth potential.

With college living costs reaching $24,980 a year, the analysis took into account such factors as the college town’s cost of living, the quality of the college education, even the crime rate of the college town.

Seniors who are wavering about attending college locally might be relieved to know that attending school in Tampa is a good bet, according to WalletHub.

Out of 400 college towns surveyed, Tampa earned a ranking of 137 for “wallet-friendliness,” an 18 for social environment and 163 for academic and economic opportunities for an overall score of 54.7.

Incidentally, in WalletHub’s 2018 College & University Rankings, the University of South Florida ranked 129 while the University of Tampa received a lamentable ranking of 413.

Tampa falls behind the number one-ranked large college city of Austin, Texas, and number two-ranked Las Vegas, Nevada.

For students who want to stick close to home without actually living at home, Orlando earned the top score on the list of best midsize college cities. With an overall score of 59.28, Orlando came in second in WalletHub’s survey of 400 cities. Another popular Florida college town, Gainesville, ranked third on the list of best midsize college cities while Miami ranked ninth on the list of best large college cities.

However, students on a tight budget may want to look outside Florida.

According to WalletHub, Jonesboro, Arkansas, has the lowest cost of a two-bedroom apartment rental, $662 per month, which is 4.7 times lower than in San Francisco and Daly, Calif., the cities with the highest at $3,121 per month.

Edinburg, Texas, has the lowest cost-of-living index for young people, 76.02, which is 4.7 times lower than in Stanford, California, the city with the highest at 359.79.

And Albany, Georgia, has the lowest cost of higher education, $17,398 per year, which is 4.1 times lower than in Evanston, Illinois, the city with the highest at $70,496 per year.

If a safe environment is a deciding factor, students might want to consider attending school in Rexburg, Idaho. It is among the cities with the fewest violent crimes (per 1,000 residents), 0.3, which is 68.3 times fewer than in Detroit, the city with the most at 20.5.

Best Large College Cities:

1. Austin, Texas

2. Las Vegas, Nevada

3. Tampa, Florida

4. San Diego, California

5. Seattle, Washington

6. Portland, Oregon

7. Los Angeles, California

8. Atlanta, Georgia

9. Miami, Florida

10. Chicago, Illinois

Best Midsize College Cities

1. Orlando, Florida

2. Scottsdale, Arizona

3. Gainesville, Florida

4. Plano, Texas

5. Irvine, California

6. Madison, Wisconsin

7. Pasadena, California

8. Salt Lake City, Utah

9. Tempe, Arizona

10. Chandler, Arizona

Best Small College Cities:

1. Ann Arbor, Michigan

2. Rexburg, Idaho

3. Provo, Utah

4. West Lafayette, Indiana

5. Storrs, Connecticut

6. East Lansing, Michigan

7. Amherst Center, Massachusetts

8. Orem, Utah

9. Berkeley, California

10. College Station, Texas

Image via USF