The Best College Town in Missouri is NOT Columbia…

According to the experts, the best college town in Missouri is not Columbia, so which city in the Show-Me State is the best place to go to college?

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The experts at WalletHub released a ranking of the Best College Towns and Cities in America in 2024, and the highest-ranking city in Missouri is...St. Louis! St. Louis ranked highest in Missouri and 97th overall in the country, and Columbia ranked 196th overall, putting it behind St. Charles, and Kansas City. The top-rated college city in America in 2024 is Austin (Texas), followed by Ann Arbor (Michigan), Orlando, Tampa, and Scottsdale.

How did WalletHub figure out these rankings?

In the article on WalletHub, they say...

"To help prospective college students narrow down their school choices following the release of 2024’s College & University Rankings, WalletHub compared more than 400 U.S. cities of varying sizes based on 31 key indicators of academic, social and economic opportunities for students. The data set ranges from the cost of living and the crime rate to the quality of higher education in the city."

St. Louis was really aided by its 68th-place ranking in the Social Environment category, but it was hurt by its 280th-place ranking in the Academic & Economic Opportunities category, to see the full list for yourself, click here! 

Did they get it right?

I think going to college in St. Louis would be fun because I am a big-city person who enjoys being in big cities, but they got this wrong... Columbia is by far the best city to go to college in Missouri! Columbia is built for college kids, it is a manageable size, with great restaurants, a cool downtown, a terrific bar scene, a safer city overall, and there are tons of other college-age kids to meet. Columbia would be my choice, what would yours be?