{"id":132684,"date":"2022-12-01T09:33:07","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T14:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=132684"},"modified":"2023-07-28T11:33:17","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T15:33:17","slug":"orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Again Ranked No. 1 Best College City in Florida, No. 3 in Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With a goal to be the best place to learn and work, UCF is in the right location. For the second year in a row, Orlando is ranked the No. 1 Best College City in America among midsize cities, according to WalletHub&#8217;s 2023 list. This year, the City Beautiful moved up one spot to No. 3 among all cities \u2014 making this the second consecutive year Orlando has placed in the top five nationally and No. 1 in Florida.<\/p>\n<p>The annual ranking is frequently used by high school seniors to help decide where to go for college. Using 32 key indicators of academic, economic and social opportunities, the study compares more than 400 cities across the U.S. to determine the best college towns and cities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExperts have argued that a school\u2019s geographical location is just as important as a strong curriculum and supportive school environment to a student\u2019s academic success and personal development,\u201d WalletHub stated in the rankings release. \u201cIt\u2019s in students\u2019 interest to live in a city with a reasonable cost of living, as well as one that provides good academic and work opportunities. The ideal city should also provide a fun social environment to help students deal with the stress of college.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Orlando is also ranked No. 2 for Social Environment, No. 26 for Cost of Higher Education, No. 46 for Quality of Higher Education, No. 93 for Academic and Economic Opportunities and No. 138 for Wallet Friendliness. Among the factors considered for the rankings are tuition costs, student loan debt, housing costs, city accessibility, student population demographics, presence of NCAA Division 1 sport teams, earning potential of graduates and entrepreneurial activity.<\/p>\n<p>With 57% of first-time-in-college students at UCF graduating without any educational debt, Knight Nation is not only a great place to pursue a college degree, but one that sets students up for success after graduation. Orlando is home to headquarters for major tech and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/aerospace-defense\/\">aerospace<\/a> companies, such as EA, Lockheed Martin and Siemens, and NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center is located nearby. With more than 17,000 Knights graduating each year, UCF supplies the high-quality education and industry connections graduates need to land prosperous careers \u2014 as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/the-power-behind-ucfs-tech-talent-machine\/\">the talent needed for these dynamic tech industries<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In October, WalletHub also ranked UCF No. 133 out of the top 500 Best Colleges and Universities.<\/p>\n<p>In September, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/washington-monthly-ranks-ucf-among-best-national-universities-for-2022\/\"><em>Washington Monthly<\/em><\/a> ranked UCF as the 47<sup>th<\/sup> Best National University and No. 7 in the southeast for Best Bang for the Buck College. <em>U.S. News &amp; World Report<\/em> also recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/academics\/us-news-rankings\/\">ranked UCF as the No. 64 Public School in the nation<\/a> \u2014 the highest the university has placed in this category \u2014 and 41<sup>st<\/sup> for social mobility among public schools. Last year, Education Reform Now ranked UCF Earlier this year, Education Reform Now ranked UCF No. 2 in the nation for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/social-mobility\/\">social mobility<\/a>\u00a0impact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The rankings consider academic, economic and social factors to determine the nation\u2019s best places to live and learn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":132685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,6,27],"tags":[5272,18219,3882,54196],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-132684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-community","category-student-life","tag-affordability","tag-community-impact","tag-rankings","tag-value"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Orlando Again Ranked No. 1 Best College City in Florida, No. 3 in Nation | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The rankings consider academic, economic and social factors to determine the nation\u2019s best places to live and learn.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Orlando Again Ranked No. 1 Best College City in Florida, No. 3 in Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The rankings consider academic, economic and social factors to determine the nation\u2019s best places to live and learn.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-01T14:33:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-28T15:33:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/12\/Lake-Eola.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicole Dudenhoefer &#039;17\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nicole Dudenhoefer &#039;17\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80c5f96623baaf4ec084540ceb2407\"},\"headline\":\"Orlando Again Ranked No. 1 Best College City in Florida, No. 3 in Nation\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-01T14:33:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-28T15:33:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/\"},\"wordCount\":468,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/12\/Lake-Eola.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"affordability\",\"Community Impact\",\"rankings\",\"value\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Colleges &amp; Campus\",\"Community\",\"Student Life\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2022\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/\",\"name\":\"Orlando Again Ranked No. 1 Best College City in Florida, No. 3 in Nation | University of Central Florida News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/12\/Lake-Eola.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-01T14:33:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-28T15:33:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80c5f96623baaf4ec084540ceb2407\"},\"description\":\"The rankings consider academic, economic and social factors to determine the nation\u2019s best places to live and learn.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/12\/Lake-Eola.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/12\/Lake-Eola.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Lake Eola in downtown Orlando. (Photo by Nick Leyva '15)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Orlando Again Ranked No. 1 Best College City in Florida, No. 3 in Nation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\",\"description\":\"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80c5f96623baaf4ec084540ceb2407\",\"name\":\"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0eafe9f8522ea36420e16503c4ea5eded2f876d29a0c189ed66c195f65ced6e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0eafe9f8522ea36420e16503c4ea5eded2f876d29a0c189ed66c195f65ced6e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/author\/ni563285\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#local-main-organization-logo\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"University of Central Florida\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Orlando Again Ranked No. 1 Best College City in Florida, No. 3 in Nation | University of Central Florida News","description":"The rankings consider academic, economic and social factors to determine the nation\u2019s best places to live and learn.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Orlando Again Ranked No. 1 Best College City in Florida, No. 3 in Nation","og_description":"The rankings consider academic, economic and social factors to determine the nation\u2019s best places to live and learn.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/","og_site_name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF","article_published_time":"2022-12-01T14:33:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-28T15:33:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/12\/Lake-Eola.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UCF","twitter_site":"@UCF","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/"},"author":{"name":"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80c5f96623baaf4ec084540ceb2407"},"headline":"Orlando Again Ranked No. 1 Best College City in Florida, No. 3 in Nation","datePublished":"2022-12-01T14:33:07+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-28T15:33:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/"},"wordCount":468,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/12\/Lake-Eola.jpg","keywords":["affordability","Community Impact","rankings","value"],"articleSection":["Colleges &amp; Campus","Community","Student Life"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2022","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/","name":"Orlando Again Ranked No. 1 Best College City in Florida, No. 3 in Nation | University of Central Florida News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/12\/Lake-Eola.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-01T14:33:07+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-28T15:33:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80c5f96623baaf4ec084540ceb2407"},"description":"The rankings consider academic, economic and social factors to determine the nation\u2019s best places to live and learn.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/12\/Lake-Eola.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/12\/Lake-Eola.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Lake Eola in downtown Orlando. (Photo by Nick Leyva '15)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Orlando Again Ranked No. 1 Best College City in Florida, No. 3 in Nation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","description":"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80c5f96623baaf4ec084540ceb2407","name":"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0eafe9f8522ea36420e16503c4ea5eded2f876d29a0c189ed66c195f65ced6e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0eafe9f8522ea36420e16503c4ea5eded2f876d29a0c189ed66c195f65ced6e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/author\/ni563285\/"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/orlando-again-ranked-no-1-best-college-city-in-florida-no-3-in-nation\/#local-main-organization-logo","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"University of Central Florida"}]}},"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/12\/Lake-Eola-300x200.jpg","primary_category":5,"primary_tag":5272,"author_byline":"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132684"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147765,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132684\/revisions\/147765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132684"},{"taxonomy":"tu_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tu_author?post=132684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}