Austin named best college city in America in new study

AUSTIN, Texas - Out of more than 400 U.S. cities, Austin has ranked number one for college students. 

WalletHub ranked the cities based on indicators of academic, social and economic opportunities to help prospective college students narrow down their school choices going into the 2020-21 school year.

According to WalletHub, experts have argued that where a school is located is just as important as a strong curriculum and supportive school environment to a student's success.

RELATED: Austin ranks low on list of safest cities in America, study says

WalletHub compared the cities across three key dimensions: Wallet Friendliness, Social Environment, and Academic & Economic Opportunities, then evaluated those with 31 metrics on a 100-point scale.

Some metrics include housing costs, share of rental unites, cost of higher education, adjusted cost of living for young people, students per capita, nightlife options per capita, student gender balance, food trucks per capita, sports clubs per capita, city accessibility, number of attractions, quality of higher education, share of part-time jobs, earning potential for college graduates, unemployment rate, and job-growth rate.

RELATED: Austin ties with Houston for most disaster-prone place to live in Texas

Austin scored 66.49 in total and ranked 196 in Wallet Friendliness, 2 in Social Environment and 54 in Academic & Economic Opportunities.

Other Texas cities in the list were Houston (30), San Marcos (40), College Station (47), Plano (54), Dallas (55), San Antonio (65), McKinney (72), Fort Worth (86), Pearland (95), Richardson (112), Carrollton (116), Waco (119), Killeen (124), Denton (132), Edinburg (145), Huntsville (151), Irving (153), McAllen (173), Bryan (177), El Paso (197), Corpus Christi (201), Amarillo (205), Lubbock (233), Laredo (239), Wichita Falls (246), Grand Prairie (256), Arlington (262), Garland (263), Brownsville (276), Nacogdoches (298), Pasadena (305), Mesquite (326), Beaumont (327), Tyler (343), Abilene (349), and San Angelo (376).

WalletHub also split the cities into three lists by size: large (more than 300,000), midsize (125,000-300,000) and small (fewer than 125,000). Austin ranked number one in the large cities list as well.

RELATED: Study shows Austin is far from the safest city in Texas

The top five cities after Austin are Orlando, Fla (2); Scottsdale, Ariz. (3); Tampa, Fla. (4); and Ann Arbor, Mich. (5). The bottom five are New Rochelle, N.Y. (411); Bridgeport, Conn. (412); Shreveport, La. (413); Kendall, Fla. (414); and Germantown, Md. (415).

To see the full list and read the full methodology behind the study, visit here.