Colorado Has Two of the Smartest Cities in the Country
Coloradans may have a reason to feel a bit smarter than the rest of the country.
Compared to the rest of the country, Colorado ranks as the fifth best state in terms of education according to U.S. News.
They ranked us at 12th for Pre-K-12 education, and then 4th in the nation when it comes to higher education.
According to WalletHub, we also have the second highest percentage of people having a bachelor’s degree and highest percentage of people with at least associate’s degrees.
This time, WalletHub is back, and they say that we’ve got two of the most educated cities in the entire country.
Denver and Colorado Springs Amongst the Smartest Cities in the United States
WalletHub recently created a comprehensive list that looked to find the United States’ most and least educated cities.
They rated the cities along two criteria: educational attainment and quality of education & attainment gap.
Educational attainment looks at a few different factors, like high school diploma holders, people with college experience or degrees, or people with graduate degrees.
Both Colorado Springs and Denver got fantastic rankings in this regard, placing 16th and 12th in total.
Quality of education & attainment gap is a bit different, however. It looks at the area’s quality of public schools, universities, along with racial and gender education gaps.
In this regard, Colorado Springs and Denver did significantly worse. The Springs got 88th, while Denver got 76th.
When stacked up against the rest of the competition, however, Colorado Springs ranks 16th with a total score of 70.18, while Denver is 11th with a score of 73.22.
What are the Most and Least Educated Cities in the United States?
According to WalletHub, the most educated city in the United States is Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Home to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor is 1st for educational attainment rank and 4th for quality of education & attainment gap. It has a total score of 93.71.
The full top five is:
- Ann Arbor, Michigan - 93.71
- San Jose, California - 82.12
- Washington D.C. - 81.88
- Durham, North Carolina - 81.32
- Madison, Wisconsin - 81.03
WalletHub ranked Visalia, California as the least educated city in the United States. They have an educational attainment rank of 148 and a quality of education & attainment gap of 147th.
The full bottom five is:
- Visalia, California - 9.44
- McAllen, Texas - 10.46
- Brownsville, Texas - 12.29
- Bakersfield, California - 17.73
- Modesto, California - 18.55
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Gallery Credit: Wesley Adams