SEC towns ranked 1-14

#77
#77
I've been to Athens numerous times and I cant understand why so many people hold it in such high regard
 
#78
#78
I’ve been to Oxford several times. Is there anything outside the grove? No complaints there. Athens is awesome! Gainesville not so much. Nashville is way more than a SEC college town. UT makes Knoxville that much better!
 
#81
#81
Pacer92 said:
Nashville isn’t what I consider a college town anymore. It’s a metropolis...and a pro town now.
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Nashville was never a college town. Vanderbilt was simply here in a zip code that falls under Nashville but is technically the west end area. Anyone who is going downtown around 2nd or 3rd (the true down town) will never even see the Vanderbilt campus as it’s on the other side of the interstate.

Once you get past 500k you are no longer a college town in my opinion. You are just a town with a college and probably many.

Does anyone honestly consider Miami, Columbus, LA as college cities?
 
#82
#82
I've been to every one of them. Here's my ranking

1: Athens
2: Nashville (for the CITY only)
3: Knoxville
4: College Station
5: Auburn
6: Oxford
7: Fayetteville
8: Baton Rouge
9: Columbia SC
10: Columbia MO
11: Tuscaloosa
12: Gainesville
13: Lexington
14: Starkville (seriously bored there)
 
#83
#83
BornonRockyTop said:
Granted, I haven't been everywhere (Missouri, A&M, Arkansas to name a few) but Knoxville seems a bit low here IMO, Oxford is so overrated it's ridiculous.
SEC towns ranked 1-14 -
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Any list that has a place in Georgia as #1 lacks in credibility. Also, the environment around the UT campus has changed a ton as it has grown while the city has been and remains ho-hum. Knoxville doesn't have the "quaint little southern town" feel nor does it have the "bustling big city" feel of Nashville. I'd say the rankings are definitely subjective but understandable. Depends on what you're looking for.

But Athens? Ewwwww.
 
#84
#84
9296potsguy said:
I've been to every one of them. Here's my ranking

1: Athens
2: Nashville (for the CITY only)
3: Knoxville
4: College Station
5: Auburn
6: Oxford
7: Fayetteville
8: Baton Rouge
9: Columbia SC
10: Columbia MO
11: Tuscaloosa
12: Gainesville
13: Lexington
14: Starkville (seriously bored there)
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Baton Rouge should be dead last. What a damn dump. The ONLY redeeming aspect is the football stadium. Also Lexington is way better than Gainsville.
 
#85
#85
MWAVolfan said:
Baton Rouge should be dead last. What a damn dump. The ONLY redeeming aspect is the football stadium. Also Lexington is way better than Gainsville.
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Hoestly I thought about putting Lexington above Gainesville because the beer scene is definitely better. I just thought my anti Gator bias might be getting the better of me.
 
#89
#89
Jack Burton said:
The Strip needs resuscitation before we move up the list. Market Square is carrying the flag for now.
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Incredibly sad what they’ve done to the Strip. Lost all of its college feel where students can go have a great time. It sucks.
 
#90
#90
KBVol said:
Incredibly sad what they’ve done to the Strip. Lost all of its college feel where students can go have a great time. It sucks.
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As they build up the university more and more (buildings and parking garages) and slowly are turning the campus into a "walking campus" they push more of the unique stuff out to the fringes and all the way to downtown. the actual campus now has a completely different feel than it used to have and the strip, I agree, is just not the same. Things have gotten to busy and urbanized.
 
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#91
#91
KBVol said:
Never been to Athens, but I live in middle Tennessee and there’s zero doubt that Nashville belongs near the top.
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I just think any list that puts Nashville lower than Athens is insane. Nashville has 100 attractions better than anything you’d ever see in Athens, and no dimwits will bark at you while you walk around.
 
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#93
#93
NEOCON said:
Nashville was never a college town. Vanderbilt was simply here in a zip code that falls under Nashville but is technically the west end area. Anyone who is going downtown around 2nd or 3rd (the true down town) will never even see the Vanderbilt campus as it’s on the other side of the interstate.

Once you get past 500k you are no longer a college town in my opinion. You are just a town with a college and probably many.

Does anyone honestly consider Miami, Columbus, LA as college cities?
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Isnt the Knoxville metro area north of 500k now? Close to a million if you include surrounding towns-oak ridge, Maryville etc.
 
#95
#95
The Original Fade said:
Nashville has gone down the toilet imo. I was raised there and it is a shell of it’s former self. Traffic is beyond insane, everybody thinks they’re a song writer, and crime is ridiculous. It’s ranking is undeserved and I would put it at 13,just ahead of Starkville.
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The biggest unknown is what the author's criteria was for ranking the cities. Yes Nashville is experiencing some growing pains and another housing bubble burst is needed to drop the prices down. The crime rate in Nashville is 52 per 1000 people and Knoxville is 65 per 1000 people. Nashville is probably weighted heavier due to it successfully hosting the NHL All star game, NHL & NFL drafts, SEC basketball tourny's and many more events. I live north of Nashville and after just spending a week in Cincinnati, Atlanta, and Birmingham the past few months, I'd still gladly take Nashville over any of them.
 
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#96
#96
BigOrangeMojo said:
I've been to all the following. Here is how I'd rank them

1. Oxford
2. Athens
3. Auburn
4. Fayetteville
5. Tuscaloosa
6. College Station
7. Gainesville
8. Columbia MO
9. Starkville

Knoxville, Baton Rouge, Lexington, Columbia SC, and Nashville arent college towns since they would still be small to medium sized cities without the university.
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Oxford is a quaint college town, but their student body is the worst in the conference.
 
#97
#97
No idea how this ranking was put together.

For instance, if they are ranking based on college football atmosphere, then agree Athens is awesome, but Knoxville is waaay too low.

If they are ranking based upon best city, without consideration to college atmosphere, then how in the world is Athens #1??? Nashville should blow it out of the water for best town. Did these writers watch the NFL draft, because they obviously didn’t attend it.

Would love to know what criteria they are ranking these cities on.
 
#98
#98
The Original Fade said:
Nashville has gone down the toilet imo. I was raised there and it is a shell of it’s former self. Traffic is beyond insane, everybody thinks they’re a song writer, and crime is ridiculous. It’s ranking is undeserved and I would put it at 13,just ahead of Starkville.
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Yeah...that is why it is constantly ranked as one of the hottest cities and best places to live.

Has it grown, yeah. My 20 minute commute would be 75 minutes if I still worked downtown, but I love living here and all the things going on everywhere all the time.

Would not leave Middle TN for anything.
 
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#99
#99
DonDiego said:
I have to agree. All of these cities have an industrial base that pre-dates and stands alone from the college town/atmosphere. How does one even compare Oxford or Tuscaloosa to Nashville?
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This is true. A Vandy game is not even a blip on Nashille’s Radar.
 
#100
#100
ice said:
Nashville, Tn. should not be in the mix. Its crime rate has been increasing and is beginning to rival Memphis, Tn. Knoxville, is not far behind. I have not forgot about the two young people who were carjacked, tortured for two or three days, then murdered in my home town of Knoxville. Has put a bad taste in my mouth. It also makes me sad things like this can happen.
When I make plans to visit a town or large event with my family, crime rate plays a big part in my decision to go, or not.
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ice said:
Yes I am.
You are also right about Knoxville not being crime ridden like Memphis. Memphis should be lumped in with cities like Detroit, Baltimore, DC, La,,etc.
If I had my way, a big part of Knoxville would have been burning after those murders. That is how bad it affected me.
Just one guy here who is sick of violent crime and liberal judges, in general.
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ICE, you need to relax brother/sister. Nobody like crime, but you can not let it drive your entire life. Nashville is nowhere near as dangerous and crime filled as Memphis. I could go to downtown Nashville any night of the week and walk around and never be in fear for my safety. Can not say that about Memphis. Memphis has been rumored to “under report or never report” the seriousness of some of the crimes that happen there to keep lower on the list of crime ridden cities. Also Nash is a bigger city, and bigger MSA, than Memphis and lower crime rate. Like many people on here I bave been in a lot of dangerous town such as Memphis, St. Louis, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, Newark, NYC etc and Nashville is nowhere near as dangerous. But like anywhere, even a small town, there is the potential to be the victim of a crime. But get out and enjoy the time with your family, show them the world and keep them safe while expanding their horizons. That is what I did and even though they are adults now, I still do to a lesser degree with the kids. Climbing down from my soapbox now, MUCH LOVE TO YOU MY FELLOW VOLS FAN.
 
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