This Texas city is the No. 2 college town in the nation, report says

One of the best college towns in America is in the Lone Star State, according to a new report.

WalletHub released its list of the best college towns in the U.S. Tuesday, and Austin nabbed the No. 2 spot.

The city is home to several colleges including University of Texas at Austin and St. Edwards University.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, ranked first on the list just ahead of Austin. Rounding out the top five were Provo, Utah; Irvine, California; and Ithaca, New York.

To determine its rankings, the personal finance site assessed 415 U.S. cities across several metrics in three categories: wallet friendliness, social environment and academic and economic opportunity.

Austin saw its highest rank — 16th — in social environment, which looks at students, breweries and food trucks per capita, the presence of NCAA Division 1 sports teams and the share of single people, among other factors.

The city’s next highest rank was in academic and economic opportunity, where it ranked 33rd. The category examines factors such as quality of higher education, share of part-time jobs, entrepreneurial activity and earning potential for graduates.

Austin saw its lowest rank — 210th — in wallet friendliness, which looks at factors such as housing costs, share of rental units, cost of higher education and average cost of pizza and burgers.

Several other Texas cities also ranked well on the list.

College Station, home to Texas A&M University, landed in the No. 12 spot, and McKinney ranked 26th.

Texas cities accounted for four of the top five with the lowest cost of living for young people: Brownsville snagged the top spot followed by Muncie,Indiana, Edinburg, Laredo and McAllen.

Laredo had the second-lowest cost of higher education among every city on the list, the report said.

On the other hand, Pearland ranked among the five cities with the lowest share of rental units and McKinney was among the five with the fewest students per capita, according to the report. Plano was one of five cities with the lowest share of part-time jobs.

This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 8:19 AM.