March 23, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; - For the second consecutive year, Forbes.com has ranked State College, home of the Penn State Nittany Lions, as one of the nation's top 10 college sports towns.
State College is No. 10 in Forbes.com's 2009-10 compilation. State College was ranked No. 4 in the nation in the 2008-09 survey.
In compiling the list, Forbes.com started by rating each university's sports program based on the final Directors' Cup standings for the 2008-09 academic year. With a No. 19 finish, the Nittany Lions demonstrated the quality of Penn State's athletic program capturing NCAA Championships in fencing and a second consecutive women's volleyball title. Penn State also won a school record-tying six Big Ten championships in field hockey, football, women's soccer, women's volleyball and women's outdoor track and field in 2008-09.
Based on the quality of a given sports program, Forbes.com compiled its list in conjunction with several factors that help to enhance the quality of life in a location, including affordability, a good public school system and low crime rates. "State College, Pa., home of Penn State University...boasts an excellent school system and a low crime rate, which boosts it over towns like Athens, Ga. (Georgia) and Durham, N.C. (Duke)," Forbes.com says.
Taking into account the quality of the athletics program and university's surrounding environment, State College continues to be highly ranked on the Forbes.com list in comparison with other Big Ten Conference cities and their respective universities. Ann Arbor, Mich., topped the Forbes.com list and State College was the other only Big Ten community ranked in the top 10.
The other college towns included in the Forbes.com survey were: 2. Chapel Hill, N.C., 3. Norman, Okla., 4. Palo Alto, Calif., 5. College Station, Texas, 6. Austin, Texas, 7. Fayetteville, Ark., 8. Lexington, Ky. and 9. College Park, Md.
With a student body of more than 42,000, Penn State provides State College with new apartment renters and homebuyers yearly. To calculate affordability, Forbes.com took the price of a 2,200 square foot house and compared it to the median income in the area using Coldwell Banker's home price index. Due to the turnover of residents, market prices tend to lower attracting business investors and knowledge-driven corporations seeking the resources of a major university.
The last element contributing to Forbes.com's ranking is the correlation between the town's public school system and the effects it has on the crime rates in the surrounding areas. The State College Area School District ranked second among other measured college towns in the 2008-09 Forbes.com survey. Also, according to FBI data, State College had the lowest violent crime rate of college towns measured.