State College was recently voted the Best Small College Town in the Country by USA Today 10 Best Readers. However, for bored teenage residents and Penn State students paying a premium for a cramped apartment, this ranking seems flawed.
A longstanding issue in State College is the lack of engaging activities outside of university events. Penn State sports are great for the Penn State sports crowd, but those uninterested or tired of the same entertainment have limited options.
Ben Gracie-Griffin, a sophomore and longtime State College dweller, explained why bigger cities are better than State College in this category.
“In a bigger city, there’s a lot more entertainment and excitement, and you can find new stuff to do all the time,” Gracie-Griffin said. “State College, it’s just kind of the same stuff over and over again, and most activities surround Penn State Football.”
Gracie-Griffin’s notion that State College life is centered around Penn State athletics is felt by every resident, whether they are a State College lifer or new to town.
Football weekends are prime examples of this, throwing campus into a frenzy as fans and alumni from all over the country host tailgates. In many cases, State College residents take advantage of the crowd by renting out their houses, often making large sums of money. This further expands Penn State’s influence and infects neighborhoods with football culture.
The traffic, noise, and overall congestion in places like grocery stores and restaurants that come with these weekends are resented by many locals.
Sophomore Kyle Coleman, who moved to State College in the summer of 2025 from Rochester, New York, described what he saw in his first year in town.
“As soon as students moved back in after the summer, I could really tell that everything here was Penn State. Football season was insane, but I do feel like, especially downtown, it’s all about Penn State,” Coleman said.
Penn State’s dominance of State College not only affects the town’s culture but also impacts its economy, raising housing costs, which has been another large issue for several years.
According to Realtor.com, the median cost for a home in State College is $485,000, which is 4-6% above the national average. There is not a long list of small college towns with a higher number than this, and Blacksburg, VA, home to Virginia Tech, is a school of similar size to Penn State with a significantly lower cost.
According to Zillow, the average value of a home in Blacksburg is $423,763, over $60,000 less than in State College. These trends continue with rent and apartment options, with State College being significantly more expensive than the majority of small college towns.
Coleman spoke on the process his family went through trying to find a house, which included numerous trips between Rochester and State College to tour houses.
“It took a long time, especially because we wanted an upgrade from our last house. We had to have a room for our grandma and a big backyard with a fence for our dogs, and it was very hard to find a house with all of that. We eventually did, but we paid almost double what our house was in Rochester,” Coleman said.
With Coleman’s 25-minute drive to school every morning, one could argue that he couldn’t find a home in State College. The clear housing issue, along with the lack of entertainment and the overwhelming college culture, highlight the flaws in USA Today’s ranking. State College certainly has rewarding qualities that make it one of the best small college towns in the country, but these issues hold it back from the number one spot.
