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

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

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

1. Hays, KS
2. Emporia, KS
3. Manhattan, KS
4. Pittsburg, KS
5. Lawrence, KS
6. Olathe, KS
7. McPherson, KS
8. Topeka, KS
9. Lenexa, KS
10. Overland Park, KS

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

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

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

The 10 Best College Towns In Kansas For 2024

Colleges: Fort Hays State University, Hays Academy of Hair Design

Colleges: Emporia State University, Flint Hills Technical College

Colleges: Kansas State University, Manhattan Christian College, Manhattan Area Technical College

Colleges: Pittsburg State University

Colleges: University of Kansas, Haskell Indian Nations University, Pinnacle Career Institute-Lawrence

Colleges: MidAmerica Nazarene University, Regency Beauty Institute-Olathe

Colleges: McPherson College, Central Christian College of Kansas

Colleges: Washburn University, Washburn Institute of Technology, Bryan University

Colleges: Brown Mackie College-Kansas City, Grantham University, The Art Institutes International-Kansas City

Colleges: Johnson County Community College, Ottawa University-Kansas City, Cleveland University-Kansas City

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

To crunch our data on Kansas'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 17 places in Kansas 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 Kansas For 2024." We updated this article for 2024. This is our six time ranking the best college towns in Kansas.

And it looks like Hays placed Summa Cum Laude.

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

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

The best college towns in Kansas are Hays, Emporia, Manhattan, Pittsburg, Lawrence, Olathe, McPherson, Topeka, Lenexa, and Overland Park.

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

For more reading, check out:

• Most Liberal Cities In Kansas
• Richest Cities In Kansas
• Best Counties To Live In Kansas

17 Best College Towns In Kansas

Rank	City	Population
1	Hays, KS	21111
2	Emporia, KS	24118
3	Manhattan, KS	54287
4	Pittsburg, KS	20610
5	Lawrence, KS	95103
6	Olathe, KS	142114
7	Mcpherson, KS	13955
8	Topeka, KS	126431
9	Lenexa, KS	57497
10	Overland Park, KS	196676
11	Leavenworth, KS	37193
12	Atchison, KS	10834
13	Wichita, KS	395951
14	Ottawa, KS	12615
15	Kansas City, KS	155438
16	Winfield, KS	11804
17	Salina, KS	46734