New Study: Michigan Is Home to America’s #1 Small College Town

A new study says Michigan is home to one of the best small college towns in the country.

The personal finance website WalletHub looked at a variety of data for more than 400 cities around the United States that are home to colleges or universities.

Each town's "wallet friendliness" was ranked, along with its social environment and academic and economic opportunities. Cities were then separated into three different categories: small college towns (those with populations under 125,000); mid-size college towns (those with populations between 125,000 and 300,000 residents); and large college towns (those with populations of more than 300,000 people).

What Makes for a Great College Town?

The best college towns find a healthy mix of all the factors above. No individual town has everything - they all have their own ups and downs.

SEE ALSO: These Are the 5 Worst Community Colleges in Michigan

WalletHub considered things like housing costs, tuition fees, student loan debt, and the cost of food and entertainment when determining each town's "wallet friendliness".

How much of each town is comprised of students? What's the crime rate? What kinds of social activities are available? Those are some of the questions WalletHub addressed when calculating a town's "social environment" ranking.

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Finally, and most importantly, each town's "academic and economic opportunities" were considered - things like the quality of the education offered by the main institution(s) of higher learning in that city, its job market, and earning potential for students who graduate there.

How Does Michigan Rate Among the "Best & Worst College Towns in America" for 2025?

Michigan has only one "large college town" as defined by this study, and that's Detroit. Detroit actually ranks as the 2nd worst large college town in America, behind only Memphis, Tennessee.

Three mid-size Michigan cities were ranked among 155 nationwide, with Grand Rapids coming in at #15; Sterling Heights at #84; and Warren at #88.

The WalletHub study ranked 192 small college towns throughout the United States, and Ann Arbor came in at the top of the list! Ann Arbor scored in the top 10% overall for its social environment and academic and economic opportunities, but its wallet friendliness was ranked in the middle of the pack.

Other small Michigan college towns to make the list include East Lansing at #19; Mount Pleasant at #50; Lansing at #51; Kalamazoo at #62; Ypsilanti at #79; Dearborn at #109; and Flint at #154.

Curious at to what other small college towns around the country scored well? Take a look below.