The 20 best college towns in America

Boulder, Colorado, is the top-ranked college town in the US,according to a new list from American Institute for Economic Research (AIER).The city of roughly 200,000 peopleearned the top spot thanks to its ease of accessibilitywith more than 20% of commuters taking public transportation or cycling around Boulder Creek Corridor anddiverse and educated population. Boulder also has an active bar and restaurant scene, with plenty of coffee shops and microbreweries.AIER calculated its list usingnine economic, demographic, and quality-of-life factors. It definessmall townsashaving lessthan 250,000residents.Aside from the overall ranking, we included cities' individual scores for noteworthy metrics including rent, earnings, and bars and restaurants.Of the nine metrics cities were rated based upon, we chose the one for whichthey scored highest.Scroll through to find outthe 20 best college towns.SEE ALSO:14 things that are harder to get into than Stanford20. Bellingham, Washington ' home of Western Washington UniversityPopulation: 208,832College student population in the metro area: 24,926#4 Arts and Entertainment19. La Crosse, Wisconsin ' home of The University of Wisconsin-La CrossePopulation: 136,824College student population in the metro area: 16,081#1 Youth Unemployment18. Jacksonville, North Carolina ' home of The University of Mount OlivePopulation: 186,684College student population in the metro area: 15,297#3 RentSee the rest of the story at Business Insider
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