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

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

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

1. Pullman, WA
2. Bellevue, WA
3. Seattle, WA
4. Kirkland, WA
5. Ellensburg, WA
6. Port Angeles, WA
7. Cheney, WA
8. Lacey, WA
9. Walla Walla, WA
10. College Place, WA

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

Finally, if you live in Poulsbo, WA - it's officially the worst college town in Washington. Sorry, Poulsbo!

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

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

The 10 Best College Towns In Washington For 2024

Colleges: Washington State University

Colleges: Bellevue College, Evergreen Beauty and Barber College-Bellevue

Colleges: University of Washington-Seattle Campus, Seattle Central College, North Seattle College

Colleges: Lake Washington Institute of Technology, Northwest University, Northwest University-College of Adult and Professional Studies

Colleges: Central Washington University

Colleges: Peninsula College

Colleges: Eastern Washington University

Colleges: Saint Martin's University

Colleges: Walla Walla Community College, Whitman College

Colleges: Walla Walla University

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

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

And it looks like Pullman placed Summa Cum Laude.

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

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

The best college towns in Washington are Pullman, Bellevue, Seattle, Kirkland, Ellensburg, Port Angeles, Cheney, Lacey, Walla Walla, and College Place.

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 Washington, starting with the absolute worst, Poulsbo:

1. Poulsbo
2. Vancouver
3. Tukwila
4. Spokane
5. Toppenish
6. Centralia
7. Bellingham
8. Tacoma
9. Redmond
10. Olympia

For more reading, check out:

• Best College Towns In Washington
• Whitest Cities In Washington
• Cheapest Places To Live In Washington

21 Best College Towns In Washington

Rank	City	Population
1	Pullman, WA	31972
2	Bellevue, WA	150606
3	Seattle, WA	734603
4	Kirkland, WA	92015
5	Ellensburg, WA	19003
6	Port Angeles, WA	20007
7	Cheney, WA	12848
8	Lacey, WA	56263
9	Walla Walla, WA	33842
10	College Place, WA	9796
11	Pasco, WA	77274
12	Olympia, WA	55151
13	Redmond, WA	73728
14	Tacoma, WA	219234
15	Bellingham, WA	91353
16	Centralia, WA	18234
17	Toppenish, WA	8820
18	Spokane, WA	227922
19	Tukwila, WA	21569
20	Vancouver, WA	190700
21	Poulsbo, WA	11824