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

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

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

1. Fairfax, VA
2. Arlington, VA
3. Farmville, VA
4. Harrisonburg, VA
5. Radford, VA
6. Lexington, VA
7. Fredericksburg, VA
8. Williamsburg, VA
9. Salem, VA
10. Richmond, VA

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

Finally, if you live in Roanoke, VA - it's officially the worst college town in Virginia. Sorry, Roanoke!

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

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

The 10 Best College Towns In Virginia For 2024

Colleges: George Mason University, Stratford University, Columbia College

Colleges: Marymount University, Strayer University-Virginia, Graham Webb International Academy of Hair

Colleges: Longwood University

Colleges: James Madison University, Eastern Mennonite University

Colleges: Radford University

Colleges: Washington and Lee University, Virginia Military Institute

Colleges: University of Mary Washington, Eastern Virginia Career College, Virginia Baptist College

Colleges: College of William and Mary

Colleges: American National University, Roanoke College, ITT Technical Institute-Salem

Colleges: Virginia Commonwealth University, J Sargeant Reynolds Community College, Virginia Union University

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

To crunch our data on Virginia'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 21 places in Virginia 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 Virginia For 2024." We updated this article for 2024. This is our six time ranking the best college towns in Virginia.

And it looks like Fairfax placed Summa Cum Laude.

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

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

The best college towns in Virginia are Fairfax, Arlington, Farmville, Harrisonburg, Radford, Lexington, Fredericksburg, Williamsburg, Salem, and Richmond.

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 Virginia, starting with the absolute worst, Roanoke:

1. Roanoke
2. Petersburg
3. Glen Allen
4. Staunton
5. Newport News
6. Ashland
7. Lynchburg
8. Buena Vista
9. Norfolk
10. Winchester

For more reading, check out:

• Most Boring Places In Virginia
• Worst Cities In Virginia For 2017
• Whitest Cities In Virginia

21 Best College Towns In Virginia

Rank	City	Population
1	Fairfax, VA	24242
2	Arlington, VA	235845
3	Farmville, VA	7647
4	Harrisonburg, VA	51784
5	Radford, VA	16379
6	Lexington, VA	7346
7	Fredericksburg, VA	28258
8	Williamsburg, VA	15486
9	Salem, VA	25372
10	Richmond, VA	227171
11	Virginia Beach, VA	457900
12	Winchester, VA	28103
13	Norfolk, VA	236973
14	Buena Vista, VA	6639
15	Lynchburg, VA	79166
16	Ashland, VA	7617
17	Newport News, VA	185118
18	Staunton, VA	25581
19	Glen Allen, VA	16246
20	Petersburg, VA	33261
21	Roanoke, VA	99213