The 10 Best College Towns In Florida For 2024

Believe it or not, America has the best colleges in the world. It's been proven by data (and surveys) that the U.S. educational system is of the highest quality

It's actually not even close and Florida is home to a handful of them.

While we could debate which colleges within Florida are the 'best,' that's not the goal of this post.

Instead, ride along with us as we determine which college towns in Florida are the best.

You know, the type of places where there's energy and stimulation, but the type of place you can walk around at night. The happiest, chillest, most downright fun places where you can send your kids off to college where you won't break the bank, or worry about their well being.

The 10 Best College Towns In Florida For 2024

1. Clearwater, FL
2. St. Petersburg, FL
3. Tampa, FL
4. Cocoa, FL
5. Sarasota, FL
6. Gainesville, FL
7. Miramar, FL
8. Tallahassee, FL
9. Pensacola, FL
10. Niceville, FL

While some of these may not seem like a 'real' college town per se, when you look at the numbers, it's hard to argue against.

And for those who live in Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Tampa - we tip our hats to you and we'll schedule a tour for next week. You can see where Clearwater ranks in terms of the best college town in America.

Finally, if you live in Leesburg, FL - it's officially the worst college town in Florida. Sorry, Leesburg!

Read on to find out more or for more on Florida check out:

• Best Places To Live In Florida
• Best Counties To Live In Florida
• Cheapest Places To Live In Florida

The 10 Best College Towns In Florida For 2024

Colleges: St Petersburg College, Pinellas Technical College-Clearwater, National Aviation Academy of Tampa Bay

Colleges: University of South Florida-St Petersburg, Southeastern College-St. Petersburg

Colleges: University of South Florida-Main Campus, Hillsborough Community College, The University of Tampa

Colleges: Eastern Florida State College

Colleges: Suncoast Technical College, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota School of Massage Therapy

Colleges: University of Florida, Santa Fe College, City College-Gainesville

Colleges: Concorde Career Institute-Miramar, Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts-Miami, Brown Mackie College-Miami

Colleges: Florida State University, Tallahassee Community College, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

Colleges: Pensacola State College, The University of West Florida, George Stone Technical Center

Colleges: Northwest Florida State College

How'd we figure out the best college towns in Florida?

To crunch our data on Florida's best college towns, we used Saturday Night Science to decide which qualities (or rankings) make sense to use in the data, and then crunch the numbers for our rankings.

First off, we firmly decided that only cities with a 4 year college should make the cut -- so there has to be at least one college granting bachelors degrees in town.

You might be surprised to hear that there are only 41 places in Florida with an institution of higher learning with that criteria.

Source of data include OpenStreetMaps, the College Scorecard, the U.S. Census, and FBI reporting data to include the following factors:

• Students Make Up Large % of the Population
• College-specific Factors
• Graduation rate
• Tuition Cost
• Student Body Diversity
• Town Characteristics
• Safety
• Affordability
• Income and Employment Opportunities
• Things to Do
• Bars
• Museums & Libraries
• Population Density

We ranked each city across each of the criteria, with one being the best.

We rolled up the individual scores into the category and ranked them again based on the category.

Finally, we took the average rank across each category, with the city posting the lowest overall score being crowned the winner of the title "Best College Town In Florida For 2024." We updated this article for 2024. This is our six time ranking the best college towns in Florida.

And it looks like Clearwater placed Summa Cum Laude.

There You Have It -- The Best College Towns In The Florida

If you're looking for the best college towns in Florida, you came to the right place.

The best college towns in Florida are Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Tampa, Cocoa, Sarasota, Gainesville, Miramar, Tallahassee, Pensacola, and Niceville.

These places all have great college sports programs, tons of stuff to do, and are great places to raise a family.

If you're curious, these are the worst college towns in Florida, starting with the absolute worst, Leesburg:

1. Leesburg
2. West Palm Beach
3. Ocala
4. Kissimmee
5. Trinity
6. Lake Wales
7. Bradenton
8. North Miami
9. Lakeland
10. Palatka

For more reading, check out:

• Conservative Cities In Florida
• African American Cities In Florida
• The Most and Least Diverse Cities In Florida

41 Best College Towns In Florida

Rank	City	Population
1	Clearwater, FL	116984
2	St. Petersburg, FL	259343
3	Tampa, FL	388768
4	Cocoa, FL	19073
5	Sarasota, FL	55508
6	Gainesville, FL	142414
7	Miramar, FL	135158
8	Tallahassee, FL	198259
9	Pensacola, FL	54059
10	Niceville, FL	15804
11	Fort Lauderdale, FL	182673
12	Fort Myers, FL	88699
13	Winter Park, FL	29985
14	Naples, FL	19315
15	Boca Raton, FL	97980
16	Orlando, FL	307738
17	Doral, FL	74891
18	Sanford, FL	61272
19	Temple Terrace, FL	26818
20	Coral Gables, FL	49696
21	Orange Park, FL	9047
22	Daytona Beach, FL	73329
23	Melbourne, FL	84982
24	Miami, FL	443665
25	Jacksonville, FL	950203
26	Lake City, FL	12307
27	Marianna, FL	6681
28	Avon Park, FL	9789
29	Deland, FL	38392
30	Miami Gardens, FL	111618
31	Pompano Beach, FL	111790
32	Palatka, FL	10471
33	Lakeland, FL	114404
34	North Miami, FL	59854
35	Bradenton, FL	55795
36	Lake Wales, FL	16455
37	Trinity, FL	18672
38	Kissimmee, FL	78478
39	Ocala, FL	63504
40	West Palm Beach, FL	117588
41	Leesburg, FL	27226