Boston ranks third in world, first in U.S. for best college city

Boston is the best American city for college students to live in, according to a recent Quacquarelli Symonds Top Universities study.

The list of the top 50 cities in the world included six American cities, with Boston ranked third behind Paris and London.

QS ranked the cities according to criteria such as the diversity of the general student body, attractiveness of graduates to employers, number of high-ranking institutions within the city and the cost and standards of living.

Boston was the only American city among the top ten cities listed.

Much of Boston’s appeal has to do with its “high-quality educational institutes and its long history,” said Boston University spokesman Colin Riley.

Riley also said Boston’s cultural institutions attract students to the area.

“When people think of going off to college, they think of Boston [because] it is a major city that accommodates their needs in music, history and art,” he said.

There are more than 30 colleges in metropolitan Boston and even more in the Greater Boston area, including such institutions as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

The QS rankings dealt with more than just the amount of schools in the area, listing student diversity levels in Boston as another important factor. About 19 percent of Boston’s 113,400 students are international, according to QS.

Boston University student Tyler Lazaro, a junior in College of Arts and Sciences, said although “there is always something to do,” the city feels comfortable.

“It feels like the city is just built around your college, even though there are other colleges [in the area],” he said.

Livability was an important part of the cities’ rankings, with the scores of most cities ranging between 50 in such cities as Beijing and Birmingham, Ala., to 100 in Melbourne. Boston scored 89 on that scale, higher than both Chicago and New York.

CAS junior Jeanelle Uy said Boston offers a mix of accessibility and urbanity, characterizing life in the Hub as a “good city experience without being abrasive.”

Despite Boston’s other high scores, the study gave the city a low score for affordability. The Australian cities on the list are the most expensive to live in, with Sydney scoring the lowest at 25. Boston scored at 41, and Cairo is listed as the cheapest to live in.

Uy said affordability is an important factor when deciding what college – and what city – to choose. She said the educational value of Boston’s institutions could be eclipsed by a student’s need to save money.

But Riley said Boston and the schools in Boston are worth the cost.

“The reason tuition is so expensive is because it is labor-intensive [but] tuition is an investment,” he said. “Parents are making an investment in themselves and their children.”

That investment, according to QS, could lead to an easier job hunt after graduation for Boston students.

The study collected the amount of domestic and international employers “who identified at least one institution in the city as producing excellent graduates,” according to its website.

The city of Boston scored an 83 in the category.

Lazaro said he was confident about his employment prospects after graduation.

He said many companies will scout out potential employees in Boston because they “know it is a large college town.”