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

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

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

1. Bowling Green, OH
2. Kent, OH
3. Cincinnati, OH
4. Oxford, OH
5. Parma, OH
6. Dayton, OH
7. Youngstown, OH
8. Tiffin, OH
9. Alliance, OH
10. Oberlin, OH

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

Finally, if you live in Defiance, OH - it's officially the worst college town in Ohio. Sorry, Defiance!

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

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

The 10 Best College Towns In Ohio For 2024

Colleges: Bowling Green State University-Main Campus

Colleges: Kent State University at Kent, Northcoast Medical Training Academy

Colleges: University of Cincinnati-Main Campus, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Xavier University

Colleges: Miami University-Oxford

Colleges: Bryant & Stratton College-Parma

Colleges: Sinclair Community College, Wright State University-Main Campus, University of Dayton

Colleges: Youngstown State University, Choffin Career and Technical Center, ITT Technical Institute-Youngstown

Colleges: Tiffin University, Heidelberg University, Tiffin Academy of Hair Design

Colleges: University of Mount Union, Community Services Division-Alliance City, Raphael's School of Beauty Culture Inc-Alliance

Colleges: Oberlin College, Lorain County Joint Vocational School District

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

To crunch our data on Ohio'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 45 places in Ohio 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 Ohio For 2024." We updated this article for 2024. This is our six time ranking the best college towns in Ohio.

And it looks like Bowling Green placed Summa Cum Laude.

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

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

The best college towns in Ohio are Bowling Green, Kent, Cincinnati, Oxford, Parma, Dayton, Youngstown, Tiffin, Alliance, and Oberlin.

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 Ohio, starting with the absolute worst, Defiance:

1. Defiance
2. Wilmington
3. Middletown
4. Painesville
5. East Liverpool
6. Circleville
7. Eastlake
8. Springfield
9. Salem
10. Portsmouth

For more reading, check out:

• Safest Places In Ohio
• Most Dangerous Cities In Ohio
• Best Counties To Live In Ohio

45 Best College Towns In Ohio

Rank	City	Population
1	Bowling Green, OH	30157
2	Kent, OH	27336
3	Cincinnati, OH	308870
4	Oxford, OH	22051
5	Parma, OH	80587
6	Dayton, OH	137305
7	Youngstown, OH	60048
8	Tiffin, OH	17894
9	Alliance, OH	21603
10	Oberlin, OH	8194
11	North Canton, OH	17773
12	Blue Ash, OH	13325
13	Athens, OH	22698
14	Sylvania, OH	19042
15	Berea, OH	18550
16	Cleveland, OH	370365
17	Newark, OH	50062
18	Celina, OH	10974
19	Toledo, OH	269962
20	Steubenville, OH	18175
21	Ashland, OH	19270
22	Wooster, OH	27021
23	Kettering, OH	57707
24	Centerville, OH	24510
25	Marietta, OH	13366
26	Mansfield, OH	47630
27	New Philadelphia, OH	17602
28	University Heights, OH	13649
29	Akron, OH	190273
30	Canton, OH	70589
31	Hamilton, OH	63149
32	Ashtabula, OH	18003
33	Columbus, OH	902449
34	Mount Vernon, OH	16861
35	Urbana, OH	11156
36	Portsmouth, OH	18130
37	Salem, OH	11861
38	Springfield, OH	58645
39	Eastlake, OH	17625
40	Circleville, OH	14017
41	East Liverpool, OH	9969
42	Painesville, OH	20387
43	Middletown, OH	50514
44	Wilmington, OH	12669
45	Defiance, OH	16852