Sep 1, 2020 - Health

Coronavirus hits college town businesses

Small businesses and workers in college towns are hurting as the pandemic pushes universities to go online.

The big picture: Hundreds of local economies across the country rely on the annual influx of students and professors to stay afloat.

Businesses in college towns are 24% more likely to shutter permanently than their counterparts in other towns, per new Yelp data.

Among the hardest-hit places...

College Park, Maryland (University of Maryland), saw 4.4% of businesses close for good.
Berkeley, California (University of California, Berkeley), 4.2%.
Cambridge, Massachusetts (Harvard and MIT), 3.8%.

Go deeper: College reopening plans are crumbling