Missoula ranks #5 Nationwide for Best College Town among Small Cities

GREAT COLLEGE TOWNS
ePodunk study targets cultural and economic centers

Your definition of a great college town
probably depends on whether you’re a
student, faculty member, townie, retiree or
tourist.

As more Americans look to college towns
as places to live, we thought it was time
to assess these communities in a new light.

In our view, great college towns have a spark that comes
not only from young blood, but from jazz clubs, literary
events, book stores and cafes. They are intellectual,
cultural and economic hubs, balancing tradition with new
business growth. Often, they mix urban amenities and
small-town charm.

The ePodunk College Town Index does not rank the colleges
themselves, but the communities in which they’re based.
Our study is not based on a student survey, nor is it a
rating of bars and night life.

The index deliberately ruled out the stereotypical "sleepy
campus town." We wanted to find college towns with
vibrant arts scenes, commitment to intellectual growth and
strong economies. These are places where alumni want to
live and where employers want to locate.

So we imposed some value judgments at the outset. We
looked at communities with four-year colleges, then ruled
out those that didn’t have total enrollment of at least 2,000
students. We looked for certain proportions of students to
overall population, ruling out those communities where the
student ratio was too low or too high. Because of college
towns’ vulnerability to rundown rental property, we also
omitted towns and small cities with low rates of
owner-occupied housing.

We then applied 15 variables to assess arts and culture,
recreation, intellectual activity, historic preservation and
cost of living:

Population
Population change, 1990-2000
Total college enrollment
Median age
Per-capita income
Unemployment rate
Owner-occupied housing
Restaurants
Book, music and periodical stores
Entertainment offerings
Publishers, recording studios and other
information-oriented companies
Public library holdings, circulation and expenditures
Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and
National Endowment for the Humanities
Symphony orchestras
Historic sites and historic districts

Wherever possible, a median was determined for each
variable, based on a per-capita figure. In some categories,
such as historic districts, communities were grouped
according to size and a median value was determined for
group. College towns were arranged by population, as
recorded in the 2000 Census:

Metros: 300,000+
Medium-sized cities: 100,000-299,999
Small cities: 20,000 to 99,999
Towns: up to 19,999

Missoula, MT

Class: Small city
Class rank: 5

Of the top 10 college towns in this class, Missoula is the
fastest growing. It scored high in arts and entertainment
options, and in historic preservation.

Combined college enrollment: 12,413

Population: 57,053
Population change, 1990-2000: 32.90%

Median age: 30.3
(National: 35.3)

Per capita income: $24,476
(National: $28,546)

Unemployment rate: 3.3%
(National: 4.0%)

Owner-occupied housing: 50.20%

Public library expenditures, per capita: $12.24

Community profiles:
Missoula, MT http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=27775

College profiles:
University of Montana http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=56050

http://www.epodunk.com/top10/colleges/index.html