Why do many college towns have such a large sphere of influence? What affects how extensive it is?

[kwabbit]

I wouldn’t put Princeton in the same category as Ann Arbor and Madison. While it matters to the local economy, it doesn’t have the associated hospital system that causes the economic dominance that Tintrlvr alludes to. (RWJ, which is associated with Rutgers, is more dominant.)

Big pharma is a bigger influence on the region’s economy, and the state government is also a major employer that is culturally ways away from Princeton. A lot of people also just live around Princeton because it’s a straightforward commute to NYC. The demographics of Princeton’s surrounding cities  are a tell - it’s a combo of Asian ethnoburbs, Trenton, and bronz-populated suburbia, not the type of places that you’d associate with a university.

I'm going to disagree somewhat on Princeton. It's certainly the case at the county level that Princeton is not that important (Mercer and Middlesex Counties would still be solidly Democratic; Somerset County would still lean Democratic; Hunterdon County would still be relatively solidly Republican), but at the local level not just in the town of Princeton but also the nearby towns, you can clearly see a white liberal halo around Princeton that you can't see nearly as well around, say, Stony Brook. But the reason seems fairly obvious to me: As a super-prestigious university, Princeton draws people globally at the tops of their professions to the area around it at a level that even a well-regarded research university like Stony Brook does not, and just as significantly creates a halo of very high prestige (and higher living standards) for the area that doesn't attach to the area around a solid but not tippy-top university like Stony Brook. So Princeton's influence on its immediate surroundings is stronger than its size or economic influence within the larger metro area would suggest due to its extremely high prestige.

Which towns are you referring to? I can see this for Montgomery and Hopewell, but not that much for Lawrence. The other surrounding towns are Asian suburbs. For the former two I’d estimate a small effect, but the demographics play a role. I would have to do some research but I’d say about 75% of the Whites in Montgomery are college educated. This could be because it’s next to Princeton, but Montgomery and Hopewell have settings very similar to the rich towns of Westchester County. They are close to transit to a major city yet have low density and access to nature and space that White educated liberals love. I’m from the area so that’s my take. Princeton isn’t really thought of as a hub. It has the nice downtown area but there’s no concentration of jobs there. Pharma complexes are scattered all around and those are the largest employer of White liberals.

[kwabbit]

I wouldn’t put Princeton in the same category as Ann Arbor and Madison. While it matters to the local economy, it doesn’t have the associated hospital system that causes the economic dominance that Tintrlvr alludes to. (RWJ, which is associated with Rutgers, is more dominant.)

Big pharma is a bigger influence on the region’s economy, and the state government is also a major employer that is culturally ways away from Princeton. A lot of people also just live around Princeton because it’s a straightforward commute to NYC. The demographics of Princeton’s surrounding cities  are a tell - it’s a combo of Asian ethnoburbs, Trenton, and bronz-populated suburbia, not the type of places that you’d associate with a university.

I'm going to disagree somewhat on Princeton. It's certainly the case at the county level that Princeton is not that important (Mercer and Middlesex Counties would still be solidly Democratic; Somerset County would still lean Democratic; Hunterdon County would still be relatively solidly Republican), but at the local level not just in the town of Princeton but also the nearby towns, you can clearly see a white liberal halo around Princeton that you can't see nearly as well around, say, Stony Brook. But the reason seems fairly obvious to me: As a super-prestigious university, Princeton draws people globally at the tops of their professions to the area around it at a level that even a well-regarded research university like Stony Brook does not, and just as significantly creates a halo of very high prestige (and higher living standards) for the area that doesn't attach to the area around a solid but not tippy-top university like Stony Brook. So Princeton's influence on its immediate surroundings is stronger than its size or economic influence within the larger metro area would suggest due to its extremely high prestige.

Which towns are you referring to? I can see this for Montgomery and Hopewell, but not that much for Lawrence. The other surrounding towns are Asian suburbs. For the former two I’d estimate a small effect, but the demographics play a role. I would have to do some research but I’d say about 75% of the Whites in Montgomery are college educated. This could be because it’s next to Princeton, but Montgomery and Hopewell have settings very similar to the rich towns of Westchester County. They are close to transit to a major city yet have low density and access to nature and space that White educated liberals love. I’m from the area so that’s my take. Princeton isn’t really thought of as a hub. It has the nice downtown area but there’s no concentration of jobs there. Pharma complexes are scattered all around and those are the largest employer of White liberals.

Hillsborough, West Windsor (yes very Asian American but also more Democratic than it would be based purely on demographics), the Amwells (not strongly Democratic but much more Democratic than otherwise similar areas further from Princeton). And Lawrence too in the areas closer to Princeton; obviously not once you are in the areas directly adjoining Trenton.

Hillsborough has the same demographics as Bridgewater and voted identically, 56-42 Biden so that seems unaffected. The Amwells might be that way because of proximity to Pennington/New Hope/Lambertville. West Windsor and Plainsboro there is an effect, but only a modest one. It might be 70-30 instead of 75-25 if not for Princeton.

[kwabbit]

I wouldn’t put Princeton in the same category as Ann Arbor and Madison. While it matters to the local economy, it doesn’t have the associated hospital system that causes the economic dominance that Tintrlvr alludes to. (RWJ, which is associated with Rutgers, is more dominant.)

Big pharma is a bigger influence on the region’s economy, and the state government is also a major employer that is culturally ways away from Princeton. A lot of people also just live around Princeton because it’s a straightforward commute to NYC. The demographics of Princeton’s surrounding cities  are a tell - it’s a combo of Asian ethnoburbs, Trenton, and bronz-populated suburbia, not the type of places that you’d associate with a university.

I'm going to disagree somewhat on Princeton. It's certainly the case at the county level that Princeton is not that important (Mercer and Middlesex Counties would still be solidly Democratic; Somerset County would still lean Democratic; Hunterdon County would still be relatively solidly Republican), but at the local level not just in the town of Princeton but also the nearby towns, you can clearly see a white liberal halo around Princeton that you can't see nearly as well around, say, Stony Brook. But the reason seems fairly obvious to me: As a super-prestigious university, Princeton draws people globally at the tops of their professions to the area around it at a level that even a well-regarded research university like Stony Brook does not, and just as significantly creates a halo of very high prestige (and higher living standards) for the area that doesn't attach to the area around a solid but not tippy-top university like Stony Brook. So Princeton's influence on its immediate surroundings is stronger than its size or economic influence within the larger metro area would suggest due to its extremely high prestige.

Which towns are you referring to? I can see this for Montgomery and Hopewell, but not that much for Lawrence. The other surrounding towns are Asian suburbs. For the former two I’d estimate a small effect, but the demographics play a role. I would have to do some research but I’d say about 75% of the Whites in Montgomery are college educated. This could be because it’s next to Princeton, but Montgomery and Hopewell have settings very similar to the rich towns of Westchester County. They are close to transit to a major city yet have low density and access to nature and space that White educated liberals love. I’m from the area so that’s my take. Princeton isn’t really thought of as a hub. It has the nice downtown area but there’s no concentration of jobs there. Pharma complexes are scattered all around and those are the largest employer of White liberals.

Hillsborough, West Windsor (yes very Asian American but also more Democratic than it would be based purely on demographics), the Amwells (not strongly Democratic but much more Democratic than otherwise similar areas further from Princeton). And Lawrence too in the areas closer to Princeton; obviously not once you are in the areas directly adjoining Trenton.

Hillsborough has the same demographics as Bridgewater and voted identically, 56-42 Biden so that seems unaffected. The Amwells might be that way because of proximity to Pennington/New Hope/Lambertville. West Windsor and Plainsboro there is an effect, but only a modest one. It might be 70-30 instead of 75-25 if not for Princeton.

New Hope/Lambertville are teeny-tiny, far too small to meaningfully affect anything beyond their very immediate vicinity, i.e., a few blocks into West Amwell (look at the Pennsylvania side of the border). Certainly not somewhere like East Amwell that is well away from them. And Hillsborough is fundamentally different from Bridgewater; among other things, Bridgewater is a much more recent swing - Hillsborough voted for Obama when Bridgewater was nearly 60% Romney. Looking at a map Hillsborough is fairly clearly oriented southwards along 206 while Bridgewater is more eastwards along 22 and 287, too, which makes them much less comparable.

Princeton is affecting these town by changing the vibes of the area more or less, not through spillover. New Hope and Lambertville definitely do that. They are LGBT hubs and their combined downtown isn’t that tiny compared to the Nassau Street area in Princeton. They are extremely expensive to live in so someone who likes their vibe might live in mid Bucks or the Amwells. The median Democrat in the Amwells is likely someone who works at a pharmaceutical company and likes the farmland and proximity to the cute small towns and Princeton as well. They probably aren’t directly associated with Princeton or even go to it that often.