Also note that 5 of these 10 cities are State capitols. They are well-employed not just because of universities but because of the expansion of government in those cities piggy-backing on school hiring. Since 2010, State government hiring has outpaced private sector hiring at near 3:1.
I suspect a fair portion of the private sector jobs in college towns are supported by the taxpayers in some way or another due to state and federal money flowing in.
I can only think of one relative of mine living in a college town who isn’t employed by the school and that one relative works for the city of Kalamazoo.
1 cousin (and her “partner”) in Minneapolis works for the college there. 1 cousin and her husband both work for a college in Chicago. 2 cousins and 1 wife work for Western Michigan University, My uncle works for UofM in Ann Arbor and my aunt retired from there.
Another issue is the tech start ups that settle around college towns and the subsidies they get.
I only see two, Lincoln and Bismark.
Des Moines is the capital of Iowa, and Pierre is the capital of South Dakota.