Four New Jersey Towns Make 2023 Best College Towns List
Four New Jersey college towns have been named among the best in America for 2023 according to Wallet Hub. Although the Garden State didn’t break the top 10, we came…
404401 01: Jia Shen, 19, a student of Chinese descent from Winnipeg, Canada, does homework for her Chinese Cinema class on the campus of Princeton University April 23, 2002 in Princeton, NJ. Twenty-six percent of the student population at Princeton University is an ethnic minority, according to a university spokesperson.
(Photo by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)Four New Jersey college towns have been named among the best in America for 2023 according to Wallet Hub. Although the Garden State didn't break the top 10, we came in at No. 11, No. 234, No. 248, and No. 391 out of 415 college and universities towns and cities nationwide.
Wallet Hub was able to come up with this list by comparing several factors. They explained their methodology by examining the 415 cities of varying sizes across three key dimensions: 1) Wallet Friendliness, 2) Social Environment and 3) Academic & Economic Opportunities.
The site continued: "We evaluated those three key dimensions using 32 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the most favorable conditions for college students. For metrics marked with an asterisk (*), we used the square root of the population to calculate the population size in order to avoid overcompensating for minor differences across cities."
To determine the average they weighted out each town and city’s average "across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample."
Take a look at the New Jersey college towns and cities that made the list as well as the top 10 college towns nationwide below:
391. Paterson, N.J.
Paterson, New Jersey is home to Passaic County Community College and HoHoKus School of Trade and Technical Sciences. Take a look at Paterson's scorecard below:
Wallet Friendliness: 157
Social Environment: 340
Academic & Economic Opportunities:385
Total Score: 41.27
248. Newark, N.J.
Newark, New Jersey is home to Rutgers, NJIT, and Essex County Community College. Newark also has buildings from other colleges such as Seton Hall Law and more.Take a look at Newark's scorecard below:
Wallet Friendliness: 164
Social Environment: 195
Academic & Economic Opportunities: 315
Total Score: 46.51
234. Jersey City, N.J.
Jersey City, New Jersey has Saint Peter's University and Hudson County Community College. Take a look at Jersey City's scorecard below:
Wallet Friendliness: 366
Social Environment: 157
Academic & Economic Opportunities: 57
Total Score: 46.94
11. Princeton, N.J.
Princeton, New Jersey is home to the Garden State's sole Ivy League, Princeton University. Take a look at Princeton's scorecard below:
Wallet Friendliness: 386
Social Environment: 84
Academic & Economic Opportunities: 2
Total Score: 56.82
10. Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina is home to several universities and colleges including North Carolina State University, Shaw University, Meredith College, North Carolina Central University, and more. Take a look at Raleigh's scorecard below:
Wallet Friendliness: 386
Social Environment: 84
Academic & Economic Opportunities: 2
Total Score: 57.61
9. Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida has the University of Miami, Florida International University, Barry University, and many more. Take a look at Miami's scorecard below:
Wallet Friendliness: 210
Social Environment: 3
Academic & Economic Opportunities: 151
Total Score: 57.71
8. Scottsdale, AZ
Scottsdale, Arizona, has Scottsdale Community College but is close to neighboring universities in the capital of Phoenix and well-known university Arizona State in Tempe. Take a look at Scottsdale below:
Wallet Friendliness: 327
Social Environment: 92
Academic & Economic Opportunities: 1
Total Score: 58.35
7. Provo, UT
Provo, Utah is home to Brigham Young University and Provo College. Take a look at Provo's scorecard below:
Wallet Friendliness: 25
Social Environment: 135
Academic & Economic Opportunities: 73
Total Score: 58.6
6. Rexburg, Idaho
Rexburg is home to Brigham Young University-Idaho. Take a look at Rexburg's scorecard below:
Wallet Friendliness: 8
Social Environment: 155
Academic & Economic Opportunities: 65
Total Score: 59.38
5. Tampa, FL
Tampa, Florida has The University of Tampa, University of South Florida, and Strayer University which has a campus in the city. Take a look at Tampa's scorecard below:
Wallet Friendliness: 172
Social Environment: 9
Academic & Economic Opportunities: 83
Total Score: 59.65
4. Gainesville, FL
Gainesville, Florida, has Santa Fe College. Check out Gainesville's scorecard below:
Wallet Friendliness: 67
Social Environment: 48
Academic & Economic Opportunities: 51
Total Score: 60.89
3. Orlando, FL
Orlando, Florida, has the University of Central Florida, Valencia College (West Campus), AdventHealth University, Polytechnic University (Orlando Campus), and several others. Take a look at Orlando's scorecard below:
Wallet Friendliness: 138
Social Environment: 2
Academic & Economic Opportunities: 93
Total Score: 61.42
2. Ann Arbor, MI
Ann Arbor, Michigan, is home to Concordia University Ann Arbor and Washtenaw Community College. Take look at Ann Arbor's scorecard below:
Wallet Friendliness: 243
Social Environment: 22
Academic & Economic Opportunities: 20
Total Score: 61.48
1. Austin, TX
Austin, Texas has been ranked No. 1 for the best college city. Austin is most notably known for the University of Texas - Austin campus.
Wallet Friendliness: 204
Social Environment: 12
Academic & Economic Opportunities: 21
Total Score: 63.27
