Smartest cities in America (Iowa City, Burlington: 2013, homes, schools)

[smpliving]

These are the 100 smartest cities in America (study) | VentureBeat

[duster1979]

Just glancing at the list, the most interesting thing I noticed is that there are two Lebanons, two Burlingtons, and two Bloomingtons.

[RDM66]

It's interesting that you will not find any cities in California on the top 100 list, even though the study was conducted by a San Francisco-based company. It's probably accurate: I've been in contact recently with some relatives who left Iowa about 40 years ago and who live in California. They're dumber than a box of rocks. There's something about the California sunshine that turns your brains into mush.

[James Wing]

Here comes the list of the smartest cities in America.

9 Lawrence, Kan.
19. Rolla, Mo.
85. Kansas City, Mo. /Kan.
96. Topeka, Kan.
168. Warrensburg, Mo.
199. St. Louis
211. Wichita, Kan.
338. Salina, Kan.
339. Springfield, Mo.

[lurtsman]

Interesting. I was involved in this study. They offered a small reward for anyone who would take part, and it seemed like a good idea. After thoroughly smashing the test I looked to the researcher and said, "You're only pretending to track my answers on this part, so what are you really studying?" It looked like he was about to crap his pants as he asked me to avoid asking questions.

I'd really like to know more about the way they scored the test. IC does have an absurdly high Bachelor's and Master's degrees given the population. Since this was handled at UIHC, and they are a magnet hospital that recruits on a national level for the most capable candidates, I'd expect the percentage of educated people playing their "game" may have been even higher.

As duster said, in another light, it is interesting how many very rural areas have placed in the top 100. Given the limited educational opportunities, it makes me wonder about the testing process.

However, none of this is to take away from a great achievement. Congrats to Iowa City on their very high score.

[1stpontiac]

If you look at the actual report (http://asset1.lumosity.com/smartest-...Cities2013.pdf) the company Lumosity just analyzed the scores of their users according to where their IP addresses are registered to. There was no recruitment, or control populations, or anything like that. I think it would be a bit of a stretch to say that these results necessarily mean a population is any smarter in one place than any other.

[lurtsman]

Interesting. Perhaps just coincidence that it was so similar to the one at UIHC then.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by iagal

These are the 100 smartest cities in America (study) | VentureBeat

Like Cambridge in the UK...
these aren't cities so much as universities with a town attached.

[pearlbob.]

Originally Posted by MrRational

Like Cambridge in the UK...
these aren't cities so much as universities with a town attached.

Very very true indeed. A smaller city with great schools or a higher number of higher ed facilities will undoubtedly score higher- you would think Urban areas or poorer areas with high numbers of already undereducated adults thus children would skew the numbers as well I guess. Poverty would be a huge factor, and surely funding for public education would be as well - not to mention the socio-cultural variants such as whether 'education' is 'valued' or indeed 'expected' by the nuclear family and broader community.
Lots of things to be weighed I guess - even factors such as the number of broken homes, single parent families, etc etc.

Lots of towns have high expectations even - of their citizenry. Other towns echo low expectations and low thresholds.