Some of the dumbest people I know work on Beacon Hill in Boston and Capitol Hill in DC.
I guess institutions of higher education do not always teach common sense.
Usually when we talk about smart cities we’re talking about cities that are made smarter with new technologies. But what about the cities that run on brain power?
The Lumina Foundation calculated the U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of adults (over 25) who have earned a college degree (associate’s degree or higher). The foundation financially supports the cause of getting more adults into higher education and has set an ambitious goal of increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent of American adults to 60 percent by 2025. How far off that mark are we in our largest metros? We’re getting there.
Of the 100 largest metros in America, here are the top 10 most educated, along with their college degree (associate’s degree or higher) attainment rate:
- Washington, D.C. - 54.37%
- San Jose - 54.08%
- Boston - 54.01%
- Madison - 53.74%
- Bridgeport, Conn. - 53.29%
- San Francisco - 52.91%
- Raleigh, N.C. - 52.72%
- Minneapolis - 50%
- Albany, N.Y. - 49%
- Seattle - 48%
These are the educated hot-spots in America. Nationally, 40 percent of adults in the U.S. over 25 have at least an associate’s degree. And for the first time ever, 30 percent of adults over 25 have at least a bachelor’s degree.
Still, these metros are 8 to 15 percentage points higher than the national average. So it’s no wonder that many of these cities are also among the nation’s most innovative.
