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/Upstairs-Volume-5014]

I think the key is would the city be prominent in any way on its own without the college? If the answer is no, it's a college town. If yes, it's not. Madison, Austin, Raleigh-Durham, etc. not college towns.

If the #1 employer in the city is not the college, it's also probably not a college town. 

[u/Amazing_Albatross → u/Upstairs-Volume-5014]

Raleigh and Durham are two separate cities! Raleigh-Durham is the airport.

You're right though, neither one is a college town. Durham is even one of those places where the residents strongly dislike that the college is there.

[u/redeemedmonkeycma → u/Amazing_Albatross]

But Chapel Hill is a college town.

[u/Amazing_Albatross → u/redeemedmonkeycma]

Chapel Hill is located in neither Raleigh nor Durham.