Looking to go to college in Seattle? Although it can be an expensive place to study, Seattle has enough positive attributes to land it high in a ranking of the best large college towns in the U.S. WalletHub recently released its annual report, the Best & Worst College Towns in America, for students to consider for 2026. Note: Seattle is in fact a city, but WalletHub uses “towns” in this report for both cities and towns for simplicity’s sake.
Read on to see where Seattle ranked!
WalletHub looked at over 400 college towns in the U.S. and ranked them in one overall list as well as in three separate lists according to size: small, midsize, and large. Seattle was ranked in the top 10 best college towns in the country.
Here is the full ranking of the top 10 large college towns:
- Austin, TX
- Orlando, FL
- Tampa, FL
- Raleigh, NC
- Atlanta, GA
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Phoenix, AZ
- Miami, FL
- Seattle, WA
- Sacramento, CA
It’s important to note that Seattle landed lower in the ranking for best college towns overall. Despite being in the top 10 for large college towns, in the overall ranking (which includes large, midsize, and small college towns) Seattle is placed in the top 20 at number 16. Overall scores were the total of three categories: wallet friendliness, social environment, and academic and economic opportunities. Out of 415 college towns in the U.S., Seattle was ranked at number 360 for wallet friendliness.
Although the Emerald City has a high cost of living, Seattle ranked very high on the main list for social environment as well as academic and economic opportunities. It was ranked at number 10 for the former and 35 for the latter, out of over 400 college towns in all. “Cities with a great economic environment can make it easier to get a job during or immediately after college,” noted WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo.
You can see all of the college town rankings and analysis on WalletHub, if you’re curious.