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

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

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

1. Portland, ME
2. Brunswick, ME
3. Orono, ME
4. Presque Isle, ME
5. Augusta, ME
6. Lewiston, ME
7. Waterville, ME
8. Bangor, ME
9. Biddeford, ME

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

Even though there are only 9 cities on our list, you need to remember there are another 132 places in Maine that don't even have a college. One might say you gotta be in it in to win it.

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

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

The 10 Best College Towns In Maine For 2024

Colleges: University of Southern Maine, Maine College of Art, Empire Beauty School-Maine

Colleges: Bowdoin College

Colleges: University of Maine

Colleges: University of Maine at Presque Isle, Northern Maine Community College

Colleges: University of Maine at Augusta, Capilo School of Hair Design, Kaplan University-Augusta Campus

Colleges: Bates College, Maine College of Health Professions

Colleges: Colby College, Thomas College

Colleges: Eastern Maine Community College, Beal College, Husson University

Colleges: University of New England

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

To crunch our data on Maine'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 9 places in Maine 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 Maine For 2024." We updated this article for 2024. This is our six time ranking the best college towns in Maine.

And it looks like Portland placed Summa Cum Laude.

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

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

The best college towns in Maine are Portland, Brunswick, Orono, Presque Isle, Augusta, Lewiston, Waterville, Bangor, and Biddeford.

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 Dangerous Cities In Maine
• Most Liberal Cities In Maine
• Poorest Cities In Maine

9 Best College Towns In Maine

Rank	City	Population
1	Portland, ME	68280
2	Brunswick, ME	16725
3	Orono, ME	10116
4	Presque Isle, ME	8772
5	Augusta, ME	18938
6	Lewiston, ME	37577
7	Waterville, ME	15785
8	Bangor, ME	31705
9	Biddeford, ME	22438