Students heading to college have thousands of higher-education institutions from which to choose. The factors that help students determine those choices are many: academic offerings, cost, proximity, family tradition, etc.
But a key element in deciding where to attend college is the school's location: not just the campus itself, but the city or town it is part of.
"Experts have argued that an institution’s geographical location is just as important as a strong curriculum and supportive school environment to a student’s academic success and personal development," says the WalletHub web site.
To give prospective college students some guidance about the quality of life they might encounter attending various higher-education institutions, WalletHub has analyzed data and come up with rankings of the nation's best towns and cities.
Analysts compared 415 U.S. cities of varying sizes based on 26 key indicators that fall into three general categories: cost of living, social environment and academic and economic opportunities.
Here are the 10 places that WalletHub considers the best college towns and cities in America.
