Tampa Makes List Of Best College Towns

A list of the best college towns has come out and Tampa makes the list in what may be a surprise to some people. So Wallethub came out with their list of 2025’s best college towns and cities. The way they came up with this list as they looked at 400 towns and cities in the United States and looked at wallet friendliness, social environment, and academic and economic opportunities. Also involved were the cost of living, crime rate, and the quality of higher education.

It breaks it down into large college cities, midsize college cities, and small college cities. They also do an overall, including all of the colleges. So, on the list of best college towns, Tampa comes in #3 overall for large college cities. It comes in #4 overall when including all colleges. The only three cities ahead of it are Austin, Texas, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Orlando.

Austin, Texas is home to the University of Texas, Ann Arbor, Michigan is home to the University of Michigan, and Orlando is home to the University of Central Florida.

Tampa has the University of South Florida, the University of Tampa and Hillsborough Community College. Now there are many other universities in the Tampa Bay area, including Eckerd College, which is in St. Pete, and Saint Leo University, which is in Saint Leo. They don’t specify if it’s the Tampa Bay area or if it’s just the city of Tampa. Tampa ranks high on the social environment rank coming in #7 overall although Tampa‘s wallet friendliness rank is low at 161st overall.

It is fantastic that Tampa is being recognized as one of the best college cities. There are great college and universities in our area and it nice to see them get some love.