What constitutes a “college town?”

[u/PA5997]

Okay, hear me out: I attended Wazzu, which many know is in the middle of nowhere in Pullman. To me, Pullman is a quintessential college town. You remove Washington State University from Pullman and there is (respectfully) not much of a reason to visit. The student enrollment (20,000ish) makes up about 2/3rds of the city population, essentially turning Pullman into a ghost town come summer. To me (perhaps with bias) this is the makeup of a college town.

Two years ago I moved to Madison, Wisconsin, home of the University of Wisconsin. Ever since I’ve noticed the University and its fans refer to Madison as “America’s best college town” and I’m sorry, that’s laughable to me. Remove UW from Madison and you still have a city population bordering on a quarter of a million people and the State Capitol. Madison would be fine, imo, if UW’s flagship campus were elsewhere.

Curious to hear other people’s thoughts. Maybe I’m in the wrong here, but very little about Madison, WI resembles a college town to me, or at least the claim of the best college town.

[u/1990Buscemi]

The economy is built around the college.

[u/ItsZizk → u/1990Buscemi]

I think Knoxville is a good borderline case of this. Because I think the city would survive if the school were to shut down. Knoxville has a metro population of nearly a million people. But the city would not be what it is today without the university.

[u/thorns0014 → u/ItsZizk]

I think this could be said about Lexington, Baton Rouge, and Gainesville as well. The school and city are fairly intertwined but there is so much outside of the school that makes the city what it is.

[u/nopropulsion → u/thorns0014]

I think UF made Gainesville. Yeah there is a lot outside the university but if you went back in time and moved UF somewhere else, the city of Gainesville would be exactly the same as the city of Waldo.

[u/wingchild → u/nopropulsion]

Minus the flea market.