Austin Ranks Number One Best College Town, San Marcos Ranks 72

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 key indicators of academic, social and economic growth potential.

Staff Reports

On December 11, Wallet Hub released its latest study, 2019’s Best College Towns & Cities in America, ranking the United States’ top college towns on three criteria.

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 key indicators of academic, social and economic growth potential. The data set ranges from cost of living to quality of higher education to crime rate.

Austin, Texas, ranked number 1 as the best college town in the country with a total score of 61.93. Despite its 188 in wallet friendliness, the home of the University of Texas at Austin Longhorns ranked 9 in social environment and 32 in Academic and Economic Opportunity.  

As no surprise, Austin ranked number one best college town in the large city category.

Overall, San Marcos, Texas, ranked 72 for its wallet friendliness, social environment and academic and economic opportunities compared to other college cities.

In wallet friendliness, it ranked high with a rating of 28 but reached the triple digits with 120 in Social Environment and 264 in academic and economic opportunities. In the small cities’ category, the home of the Texas State Bobcats ranked 32.  

According to Wallet Hub, the categories cities fell in were determined based population.

• Large Cities: more than 300,000 people.
• Midsize Cities: 125,000 to 300,000 people
• Small Cities: less than 125,000 people

To see the full report and methodology used by Wallet Hub to determine the rankings, go here.