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

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

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

1. Canyon, TX
2. College Station, TX
3. McAllen, TX
4. Nacogdoches, TX
5. Commerce, TX
6. Wichita Falls, TX
7. San Marcos, TX
8. Arlington, TX
9. Beaumont, TX
10. Denton, TX

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

Finally, if you live in Terrell, TX - it's officially the worst college town in Texas. Sorry, Terrell!

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

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

The 10 Best College Towns In Texas For 2024

Colleges: West Texas A & M University

Colleges: Texas A & M University-College Station, Vista College - College Station

Colleges: South Texas College, South Texas Vocational Technical Institute-McAllen, Brightwood College-McAllen

Colleges: Stephen F Austin State University

Colleges: Texas A & M University-Commerce

Colleges: Midwestern State University

Colleges: Texas State University, Total Transformation Institute of Cosmetology

Colleges: The University of Texas at Arlington, ITT Technical Institute-Arlington, Arlington Baptist College

Colleges: Lamar University, Academy of Hair Design-Beaumont, Brightwood College-Beaumont

Colleges: University of North Texas, Texas Woman's University, Ogle School Hair Skin Nails-Denton

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

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

And it looks like Canyon placed Summa Cum Laude.

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

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

The best college towns in Texas are Canyon, College Station, McAllen, Nacogdoches, Commerce, Wichita Falls, San Marcos, Arlington, Beaumont, and Denton.

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 Texas, starting with the absolute worst, Terrell:

1. Terrell
2. Fort Worth
3. Georgetown
4. Waxahachie
5. Marshall
6. San Antonio
7. Seguin
8. Irving
9. Euless
10. Garland

For more reading, check out:

• Worst Places To Live In Texas
• Best Places To Live In Texas
• Poorest Cities In Texas

45 Best College Towns In Texas

Rank	City	Population
1	Canyon, TX	15089
2	College Station, TX	120451
3	Mcallen, TX	142722
4	Nacogdoches, TX	32148
5	Commerce, TX	9078
6	Wichita Falls, TX	102482
7	San Marcos, TX	67143
8	Arlington, TX	393469
9	Beaumont, TX	114573
10	Denton, TX	142262
11	Stephenville, TX	21020
12	Plainview, TX	20113
13	Austin, TX	958202
14	Midland, TX	132490
15	Edinburg, TX	100964
16	Brownwood, TX	18820
17	Abilene, TX	126356
18	Odessa, TX	113353
19	San Angelo, TX	99422
20	Lubbock, TX	258190
21	El Paso, TX	677181
22	Kerrville, TX	24333
23	Lake Jackson, TX	27954
24	Richardson, TX	118063
25	Waco, TX	140545
26	Tyler, TX	106440
27	Kingsville, TX	25265
28	Laredo, TX	255293
29	Houston, TX	2296253
30	Longview, TX	82176
31	Southlake, TX	30779
32	Belton, TX	23137
33	Dallas, TX	1300642
34	Corpus Christi, TX	317804
35	Prairie View, TX	8039
36	Garland, TX	244026
37	Euless, TX	60360
38	Irving, TX	254962
39	Seguin, TX	30318
40	San Antonio, TX	1445662
41	Marshall, TX	23509
42	Waxahachie, TX	41801
43	Georgetown, TX	71788
44	Fort Worth, TX	924663
45	Terrell, TX	18001