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

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

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

1. Camden, NJ
2. Caldwell, NJ
3. New Brunswick, NJ
4. Woodland Park, NJ
5. Lodi, NJ
6. Jersey City, NJ
7. Newark, NJ
8. Madison, NJ
9. Glassboro, NJ
10. Lakewood, NJ

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

Read on to find out more or for more on New Jersey check out:

• Best Places To Live In New Jersey
• Best Counties To Live In New Jersey
• Cheapest Places To Live In New Jersey

The 10 Best College Towns In New Jersey For 2024

Colleges: Rutgers University-Camden, Cooper Health System Center for Allied Health Education

Colleges: Caldwell University

Colleges: Rutgers University-New Brunswick, New Brunswick Theological Seminary

Colleges: Berkeley College-Woodland Park, Branford Hall Career Institute-Woodland Park

Colleges: Felician University

Colleges: New Jersey City University, Hudson County Community College, Saint Peter's University

Colleges: Essex County College, Rutgers University-Newark, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Colleges: Drew University, Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus

Colleges: Rowan University

Colleges: Georgian Court University, Beth Medrash Govoha, Bais Medrash Toras Chesed

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

To crunch our data on New Jersey'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 12 places in New Jersey 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 New Jersey For 2024." We updated this article for 2024. This is our six time ranking the best college towns in New Jersey.

And it looks like Camden placed Summa Cum Laude.

There You Have It -- The Best College Towns In The New Jersey

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

The best college towns in New Jersey are Camden, Caldwell, New Brunswick, Woodland Park, Lodi, Jersey City, Newark, Madison, Glassboro, and Lakewood.

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:

• Gayest Cities In New Jersey
• Best Places To Retire In New Jersey
• Best Places To Raise A Family In New Jersey

12 Best College Towns In New Jersey

Rank	City	Population
1	Camden, NJ	71799
2	Caldwell, NJ	8897
3	New Brunswick, NJ	55718
4	Woodland Park, NJ	13291
5	Lodi, NJ	25969
6	Jersey City, NJ	287899
7	Newark, NJ	307355
8	Madison, NJ	16521
9	Glassboro, NJ	23014
10	Lakewood, NJ	68555
11	West Long Branch, NJ	8547
12	Hoboken, NJ	58754