San Diego Ranked 8th Best College Town
The rankings include the 75 best places to live for college students.
The complete college experience includes much more than just what happens in the classroom. Students also care about the quality of life, arts and culture, and career opportunities in the region of their chosen university.
Students at San Diego State, University of California San Diego, University of San Diego and other local colleges and universities get the whole package, according to a new study released by the American Institute for Economic Research, which named San Diego the eighth best college town in America.
The institute's College Destinations Index is a quantitative ranking of the 75 best towns and cities for college students to live. The locations were chosen from an analysis of the 222 metropolitan statistical areas with student populations of 15,000 or more.
The Top 10
The institute's top ten major metropolitan college towns (areas with populations greater than 2.5 million) include:
- San Francisco
- New York City
- Washington D.C.
- Boston
- Seattle
- Baltimore
- Los Angeles
- San Diego
- Minneapolis–St. Paul
- Philadelphia
"I'm not surprised that San Diego has earned a high ranking as a great place to go to college, because we have so much to offer the bright, young people at our four universities when they're not studying—great beaches and urban parks, a vibrant arts and culture scene—and of course, terrific nightlife," said San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders.
"We also have an innovation-based economy with plentiful opportunities for students to develop their careers while they're in school. So it's a great place to work and play."
More than just academics
The rankings index considers the areas in which the schools are located, including the overall academic environment, quality of life, such as cost of living and arts and leisure activities, and professional opportunities.
“Deciding what school to attend should involve more than what the school itself has to offer,” said Keming Liang, the institute's lead researcher on the project.
“Where to attend college is just as important, because like the colleges themselves, the towns and cities in which they are located vary widely in the opportunities they offer students and recent graduates.”
What was measured
The rankings looked at 12 specific criteria, including:
- Student Concentration: number of college students per 1,000 residents
- Student Diversity: percentage of all students holding foreign passports
- Research Capacity: academic research and development expenditures per capita
- Degree Attainment: percent of the 25- to 34-year-old population with college degrees
- Cost of Living: based upon average rent for a two-bedroom apartment
- Arts and Leisure: number of cultural and entertainment venues per 100,000 residents
- City Accessibility: percentage of workers over age 16 who commute on foot or by public transportation or bicycle
- Creative Class: percentage of residents working in the arts, education, knowledge industries, science and engineering, management and other fields
- Earning Potential: income per capita
- Entrepreneurial Activity: net annual increase in total number of business establishments per 100,000 residents
- Brain Gain/Drain: year-over-year ratio of college-educated population living in the area
- Unemployment rate
The rankings also include categories for mid-sized metropolitan areas (1–2.5 million population), small cities (250,000–1 million population) and college towns (less than 250,000 population).
