The best college towns of 2026 are waiting for you to start your academic journey. As you’re preparing for your high school graduation or perhaps making the decision to pursue further education, the thought of where you’re going to spend the next few years of your life is likely top of mind. It’s no surprise, then, that the town you live in is just as much a part of the experience as the college itself.

So, how can you know which town best suits your needs? We’ve done the work for you by taking into consideration what matters most to young people today, beyond the traditional rankings. Specifically, we analyzed 244 towns in the U.S. across key metrics that measure the quality of education, quality of life and overall affordability. Compared to rankings from previous years, we removed the potentially biased university score and included the retention rate for each institution, which is often considered a student happiness metric.

Here are the highlights of our report for Athens, GA: 

• Athens enters the national ranking for the first time this year, debuting at No. 17 nationally and 5th in the South. 
• The city is one of the strongest academic performers in the entire top 20, with a graduation rate of 86.35%, 25 percentage points above the national average, which places it 16th nationally on that metric alone. 
• Athens also ranks 25th nationally for retention rate at 92%, reflecting the University of Georgia's ability to keep students engaged and on track well above the national norm of 77.9%. 
• The percentage of admitted students who enrolled comes in well above the national average, at 34.44% compared to 22%. 

Read the full study at https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/market-snapshots/best-college-towns-2026/.