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Statistics

Best and worst municipalities for students

Morning Analytics' analysis of the student towns: where the students are, how large a part of the town they make up, and figures for centrality, jobs and culture.

Trondheim comes out best of 31 student towns in Morning Analytics' analysis of where it is best to be a student, at 84 of 100. Weakest is Ringerike at 22 of 100. The analysis uses Statistics Norway figures on the number of students, students per inhabitant, centrality, unemployment, culture and jobs; house prices and rents are not included. Morning Analytics, 6 November 2026.

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84 of 100Highest: Trondheim
46 of 100Median of the municipalities
22 of 100Lowest: Ringerike

The picture in figures

The bars show the ten highest and the ten lowest of 31 municipalities. The dashed line is the median of all municipalities.

Highest 10
TrondheimTrondheim84 of 100BergenBergen81 of 100OsloOslo80 of 100LillehammerLillehammer77 of 100StavangerStavanger70 of 100TromsøTromsø69 of 100BodøBodø67 of 100ÅsÅs67 of 100KristiansandKristiansand61 of 100HortenHorten60 of 100
Lowest 10
RingerikeRingerike22 of 100FredrikstadFredrikstad24 of 100HarstadHarstad26 of 100NotoddenNotodden30 of 100LevangerLevanger30 of 100ÅlesundÅlesund31 of 100KongsbergKongsberg36 of 100DrammenDrammen37 of 100AltaAlta37 of 100HaugesundHaugesund38 of 100
How 31 municipalities spread
22 of 100 – 27 of 100: 327 of 100 – 32 of 100: 332 of 100 – 37 of 100: 337 of 100 – 43 of 100: 443 of 100 – 48 of 100: 548 of 100 – 53 of 100: 053 of 100 – 58 of 100: 158 of 100 – 63 of 100: 463 of 100 – 69 of 100: 269 of 100 – 74 of 100: 274 of 100 – 79 of 100: 179 of 100 – 84 of 100: 322 of 10084 of 100score in the student analysis →

Each bar is the number of municipalities in a range of values. The dashed line is the median. Hover over a bar to see the range.

How the analysis is made

Each municipality with at least 5,000 inhabitants gets a place from 0 to 100 on each figure below (100 is best), and the score is the mean weighted as the table shows. 31 municipalities are included. 174 municipalities under 5,000 inhabitants are not ranked, since a few people can move the figures a lot there. Municipalities missing more than 30 % of the weight are not included either.

Only municipalities with at least 1,000 students in university and college education (by place of study, Statistics Norway table 03814) are ranked, and the places are taken among them. 152 municipalities with at least 5,000 inhabitants have fewer students and are not included: a student town needs students.

How the analysis is made
FigureWeightBetter whenYear
students in higher education (number, by place of study)30 %higher2025
students per 1,000 inhabitants25 %higher2025
centrality (Statistics Norway)15 %more central–
unemployment10 %lower2025
culture spending per inhabitant10 %higher2025
jobs per employed resident10 %higher2025

Not yet included: rents and house prices, public transport, student housing and the students' own assessment (the Study Barometer covers study programmes, not towns). When open figures per municipality exist, they come in with their own weight and the analysis gets a new version.

What explains the placing?

  • 1. Trondheim 84 of 100 Strongest on students in higher education (number, by place of study), students per 1,000 inhabitants; weakest on unemployment, jobs per employed resident.
  • 2. Bergen 81 of 100 Strongest on students in higher education (number, by place of study), centrality (Statistics Norway); weakest on unemployment, culture spending per inhabitant.
  • 3. Oslo 80 of 100 Strongest on students in higher education (number, by place of study), jobs per employed resident; weakest on unemployment, students per 1,000 inhabitants.
  • 29. Harstad 26 of 100 Strongest on unemployment, culture spending per inhabitant; weakest on students in higher education (number, by place of study), centrality (Statistics Norway).
  • 30. Fredrikstad 24 of 100 Strongest on centrality (Statistics Norway), students in higher education (number, by place of study); weakest on students per 1,000 inhabitants, jobs per employed resident.
  • 31. Ringerike 22 of 100 Strongest on centrality (Statistics Norway), unemployment; weakest on students in higher education (number, by place of study), culture spending per inhabitant.
#Municipality County Inhabitants score in the student analysis
1 Trondheim Trøndelag 218,460 84 of 100
2 Bergen Vestland 294,860 81 of 100
3 Oslo Oslo 728,714 80 of 100
4 Lillehammer Innlandet 29,669 77 of 100
5 Stavanger Rogaland 151,669 70 of 100
6 Tromsø Troms 79,943 69 of 100
7 Bodø Nordland 53,638 67 of 100
8 Ås Akershus 22,725 67 of 100
9 Kristiansand Agder 119,287 61 of 100
10 Horten Vestfold 28,173 60 of 100
11 Volda Møre og Romsdal 11,009 59 of 100
12 Hamar Innlandet 33,817 59 of 100
13 Gjøvik Innlandet 31,350 57 of 100
14 Halden Østfold 32,082 48 of 100
15 Sogndal Vestland 12,552 47 of 100
16 Lillestrøm Akershus 96,771 46 of 100
17 Grimstad Agder 25,569 45 of 100
18 Elverum Innlandet 21,937 43 of 100
19 Molde Møre og Romsdal 33,291 42 of 100
20 Midt-Telemark Telemark 11,157 40 of 100
21 Porsgrunn Telemark 37,435 39 of 100
22 Haugesund Rogaland 38,663 38 of 100
23 Alta Finnmark 22,074 37 of 100
24 Drammen Buskerud 106,013 37 of 100
25 Kongsberg Buskerud 29,169 36 of 100
26 Ålesund Møre og Romsdal 59,663 31 of 100
27 Levanger Trøndelag 20,807 30 of 100
28 Notodden Telemark 13,389 30 of 100
29 Harstad Troms 25,204 26 of 100
30 Fredrikstad Østfold 86,243 24 of 100
31 Ringerike Buskerud 31,942 22 of 100