Philadelphia Business Journal

Where Does Philly Land on List of Best (and Worst) College Towns?

Philadelphia is known for its abundance of higher education institutions, but according to a recent ranking of the best and worst college towns and cities put together by WalletHub, it's not among the top ten large cities when it comes to being friendly to students.

The ranking from the personal finance site looked at 415 cities proper, not metro areas, with at least 7,500 students. The schools were ranked based on three categories: WalletFitness, social environment and academic and economic opportunities. Those three were then broken down into 26 metrics that were graded on a 100-point scale and the overall score was calculated based on a city's weighted average across all metrics.

Philadelphia ranked as No. 127 out of 415 in the overall list. When it was boiled down to just large cities, Philadelphia came in at No. 28. 

It ranked higher in certain categories, as it came in No. 21 overall for city accessibility, but fell far down on the list that looked at crime rates, coming in at No. 308. While Philadelphia is often touted for its low cost of living compared with other major cities, it still ranked low for schools based on the cost of living for young people at No. 272.

To read more and see the gallery for the list of the top 30 large cities, click here.


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