I’ll put in a vote for Northampton, MA! It’s been a very fun place for my D to spend 4 years.
Ames, Iowa(Iowa State), Arcata, California ( Humboldt State University), Claremont,California (Pomona College). All really fun College Towns.
I would be hesitant to call places like Boston or Madison, WI. college towns. Seems to me like a college town is one where the university or college is the main employer and gives the town its identity. I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and always thought it was silly when people called it a college town because Ohio State was there.
Burlington, Boulder and Madison are my picks.
I’m not sure what else Madison is known for (than the home of the Badgers). Sure, it’s the state capital, but that is not uncommon for flagships.
@Publisher I would not call SB a college town because UCSB is so far outside the town.
Austin and Boston are not “college towns” but are large cities that happen to have colleges located there. “College town” has never in my experience been equated to “great place to go to college” but has always meant “big town/small city that is culturally dominated by a college or university located there.” If we are going to include Boston and Austin, why in the world is New York not listed? Or Los Angeles? I am not even sure that Madison should really qualify given that it is the state capital first and home of UW second, though enough people do think of Madison for UW first that it is the exception that proves the rule.
Otherwise I agree with a few other posters–Athens, GA and Bloomington, IN immediately come to mind, and people from the northeast likely have a few nominees (but I am not really familiar with ne college towns).
Austin used to be a college town. Not so much anymore.
In the college towns where you’d like to retire thread, I mentioned Northfield, MN, home to Carleton and St. Olaf. Almost a third of the town’s population is college students.
Berkeley, Boston and Chapel Hill get my vote. Dumbfounded that Ann Arbor didn’t make the list.
Columbia MO best college town ever
I like University Circle, Cleveland Ohio. Walk to Little Italy, bars, dance, and sophisticated stuff like world class Cleveland Orchestra.
Certainly a nice area, but not really “college” imo. Maybe too sophisticated for me. 
Cleveland is underappreciated.
Go Cavs!!!
Cleveland is the only college town outside of Ann Arbor where Zingermans cakes are sold, right at Case Western Reserve U. student center! I love that midwestern bakery.
Oscar Mayer wieners, of course!
That aside, Ann Arbor, Madison, and Boulder get my vote, in that order.
Honorable mention to Bloomington (IN), Iowa City, Chapel Hill, Ithaca, and Northampton, in no particular order.
Definition of college town may vary , but it is hard to find another place with so many colleges concentrated in one city like Boston.
Then I would vote for Cambridge+Somerville (only 11.33 square miles- interconnected by the Red Line subway now with an extension of the Green Line subway coming in 2021)
Harvard is the largest employer in Cambridge
MIT is the second largest employer in Cambridge
Tufts is the largest employer in Somerville
Home also to:
Lesley University
Longy School of Music
Hult International Business School
Wellesley, Babson, Olin, Brandeis and Bentley all run shuttle buses into the area
Students attending schools across the river (in Boston) also visit.