Livability.com Names the 10 Best College Towns 2014
(PRWEB) August 18, 2014 -- The atmosphere, scenery and people surrounding a college play a key role in the experience students have while attending classes. With this in mind, Livability.com has named the 10 Best College Towns, 2014. These towns foster creativity, social interaction and recreational pursuits. They also share a synergy with the college that influences the entire community, providing dynamic settings while keeping with the traditions that honor the past.
Our editors took a football-themed approach when creating our fifth iteration of this list, breaking things down by conferences, grouping cities according to how their colleges are divided by the Football Bowl Subdivision and choosing the best college town in each division. They then calculated livability aspects but skewed the list toward measuring the impact these colleges and universities have on their cities and what would make life better for college-aged people. Our editors looked for places with housing affordability and high walkability, as well as cities with a high concentration of degree-holders and 25-to-34 year-olds to see if they were the kinds of cities that students would want to stay in once they graduated.
In addition, our editors checked out the entertainment scenes, recreational opportunities and cultural amenities these cities had to offer. They also looked at the partnerships that exist between the colleges and towns.
"If you look at our overall Top 100 Best Places to Live list, you'll see many college towns at or near the top of the ranking," says Livability.com Editor Matt Carmichael. "That's no coincidence. For a mid-sized city, having a college or university in town can help move a place from being a good place to live to a great place to live.”
10 Best College Towns, 2014:
Ames, IA
Logan, UT
Oxford, OH
Fayetteville, AR
Tempe, AZ
Charlottesville, VA
Champaign, IL
Moscow, ID
South Bend, IN
Hattiesburg, MS
Matt Carmichael, Livability.com, http://livability.com, +1 (847) 969-5483, [email protected]
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