The 10 Best College Towns In Indiana 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 Indiana is home to a handful of them.

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

Instead, ride along with us as we determine which college towns in Indiana 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 Indiana For 2024

1. Bloomington, IN
2. Vincennes, IN
3. Greencastle, IN
4. Muncie, IN
5. Winona Lake, IN
6. Evansville, IN
7. Westville, IN
8. South Bend, IN
9. Hammond, IN
10. Huntington, IN

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 Bloomington, Vincennes and Greencastle - we tip our hats to you and we'll schedule a tour for next week. You can see where Bloomington ranks in terms of the best college town in America.

Finally, if you live in Anderson, IN - it's officially the worst college town in Indiana. Sorry, Anderson!

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

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

The 10 Best College Towns In Indiana For 2024

Colleges: Indiana University-Bloomington, Tricoci University of Beauty Cuture LLC-Bloomington, Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington

Colleges: Vincennes University, Vincennes Beauty College, Purdue University - Purdue Polytechnic Vincennes

Colleges: DePauw University

Colleges: Ball State University, Ross Medical Education Center-Muncie, Ivy Tech Community College-East Central

Colleges: Grace College and Theological Seminary

Colleges: University of Southern Indiana, University of Evansville, Rogers Academy of Hair Design

Colleges: Purdue University-North Central Campus

Colleges: Indiana University-South Bend, Brown Mackie College-South Bend, ITT Technical Institute-South Bend

Colleges: Purdue University-Calumet Campus, Brightwood College-Hammond

Colleges: Huntington University

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

To crunch our data on Indiana'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 28 places in Indiana 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 Indiana For 2024." We updated this article for 2024. This is our six time ranking the best college towns in Indiana.

And it looks like Bloomington placed Summa Cum Laude.

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

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

The best college towns in Indiana are Bloomington, Vincennes, Greencastle, Muncie, Winona Lake, Evansville, Westville, South Bend, Hammond, and Huntington.

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 Indiana, starting with the absolute worst, Anderson:

1. Anderson
2. Franklin
3. Angola
4. Merrillville
5. Jeffersonville
6. Indianapolis
7. Kokomo
8. Goshen
9. Rensselaer
10. Fort Wayne

For more reading, check out:

• Best Places To Raise A Family In Indiana
• Best College Towns In Indiana
• Fastest Growing Cities In Indiana

28 Best College Towns In Indiana

Rank	City	Population
1	Bloomington, IN	79006
2	Vincennes, IN	16715
3	Greencastle, IN	9865
4	Muncie, IN	65167
5	Winona Lake, IN	5077
6	Evansville, IN	116906
7	Westville, IN	5885
8	South Bend, IN	103084
9	Hammond, IN	77390
10	Huntington, IN	17017
11	Terre Haute, IN	58599
12	Mishawaka, IN	50899
13	Marion, IN	27528
14	Crawfordsville, IN	16335
15	Valparaiso, IN	33991
16	Richmond, IN	35642
17	North Manchester, IN	5017
18	Gary, IN	69136
19	Fort Wayne, IN	264514
20	Rensselaer, IN	5330
21	Goshen, IN	34704
22	Kokomo, IN	59534
23	Indianapolis, IN	882006
24	Jeffersonville, IN	49771
25	Merrillville, IN	36214
26	Angola, IN	9317
27	Franklin, IN	26073
28	Anderson, IN	55011