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

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

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

1. Knoxville, TN
2. Collegedale, TN
3. Martin, TN
4. Cookeville, TN
5. Memphis, TN
6. Murfreesboro, TN
7. Henderson, TN
8. Franklin, TN
9. Dayton, TN
10. Chattanooga, TN

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

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

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

The 10 Best College Towns In Tennessee For 2024

Colleges: The University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Pellissippi State Community College, Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Knoxville

Colleges: Southern Adventist University

Colleges: The University of Tennessee-Martin

Colleges: Tennessee Technological University, Fortis Institute-Cookeville, Mr Wayne's School of Unisex Hair Design

Colleges: University of Memphis, Southwest Tennessee Community College, Christian Brothers University

Colleges: Middle Tennessee State University, Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Murfreesboro, Paul Mitchell the School-Murfreesboro

Colleges: Freed-Hardeman University

Colleges: O'More College of Design, Williamson Christian College

Colleges: Bryan College-Dayton, Oxford Graduate School

Colleges: Chattanooga State Community College, The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, Chattanooga College Medical Dental and Technical Careers

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

To crunch our data on Tennessee'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 19 places in Tennessee 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 Tennessee For 2024." We updated this article for 2024. This is our six time ranking the best college towns in Tennessee.

And it looks like Knoxville placed Summa Cum Laude.

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

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

The best college towns in Tennessee are Knoxville, Collegedale, Martin, Cookeville, Memphis, Murfreesboro, Henderson, Franklin, Dayton, and Chattanooga.

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:

• Best Small Towns in Tennessee
• Fastest Growing Cities In Tennessee
• Most Liberal Cities In Tennessee

19 Best College Towns In Tennessee

Rank	City	Population
1	Knoxville, TN	191857
2	Collegedale, TN	11001
3	Martin, TN	10823
4	Cookeville, TN	34967
5	Memphis, TN	630027
6	Murfreesboro, TN	153487
7	Henderson, TN	6326
8	Franklin, TN	83630
9	Dayton, TN	7139
10	Chattanooga, TN	181288
11	Greeneville, TN	15458
12	Maryville, TN	31876
13	Nashville, TN	684103
14	Clarksville, TN	167882
15	Athens, TN	14091
16	Pulaski, TN	8301
17	Lebanon, TN	39562
18	Jackson, TN	67993
19	Bristol, TN	27307