Raleigh is US 3rd "smartest" city (250K or larger in population) (Newton: buy)

[thisguy]

As measuered by % of people with bachelor's degree, in cities of 250K or more population

http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/29/real...ion=2006083116

Seattle, San Fran, and Raleigh NC are only 3 cities with 50% or greater of population with bachelors

(now I know there are very smart people in the world without bachelor's but its just a statistic and interesting to compare)

Only 3 cities have >50%
Only 6 cities between 40 and 50%

[mm34b]

I saw that list too, but what I found odd was that when it comes to cities with the highest percentage of residents with graduate degrees, Raleigh is nowhere to be found. Of course, this list doesn't restrict the competition to only cities with populations of 250K or more.

Top 25

1 Arlington, VA 35.7%
2 Davis, CA 34.6%
3 Brookline, MA 32.5%
4 Evanston, IL 31.2%
5 Bloomington, IN 31.2%
6 Towson, MD 31.2%
7 Oak Park, IL 29.1%
8 Bethesda, MD 29.1%
9 Alexandria, VA 29.0%
10 West Hartford, CT 28.9%
11 College Station, TX 27.7%
12 Ames, IA 27.5%
13 Columbia, MO 27.5%
14 Iowa City, IA 27.4%
15 Newton, MA 26.9%
16 Cambridge, MA 26.3%
17 Corvallis, OR 25.7%
18 Palo Alto, CA 25.4%
19 Berkeley, CA 24.5%
20 Lawrence, KS 24.3%
21 Champaign, IL 24.1%
22 Irvine, CA 24.0%
23 Santa Monica, CA 23.8%
24 Catalina Foothills, AZ 23.7%
25 Gainesville, FL 23.7%

[thisguy]

Originally Posted by mm34b

I saw that list too, but what I found odd was that when it comes to cities with the highest percentage of residents with graduate degrees, Raleigh is nowhere to be found. Of course, this list doesn't restrict the competition to only cities with populations of 250K or more.

Top 25

1 Arlington, VA 35.7%
2 Davis, CA 34.6%
3 Brookline, MA 32.5%
4 Evanston, IL 31.2%
5 Bloomington, IN 31.2%
6 Towson, MD 31.2%
7 Oak Park, IL 29.1%
8 Bethesda, MD 29.1%
9 Alexandria, VA 29.0%
10 West Hartford, CT 28.9%
11 College Station, TX 27.7%
12 Ames, IA 27.5%
13 Columbia, MO 27.5%
14 Iowa City, IA 27.4%
15 Newton, MA 26.9%
16 Cambridge, MA 26.3%
17 Corvallis, OR 25.7%
18 Palo Alto, CA 25.4%
19 Berkeley, CA 24.5%
20 Lawrence, KS 24.3%
21 Champaign, IL 24.1%
22 Irvine, CA 24.0%
23 Santa Monica, CA 23.8%
24 Catalina Foothills, AZ 23.7%
25 Gainesville, FL 23.7%

I don't see Seattle or San fran there either? Although I believe Palo Alto is a suburb of SF?

Just scanning that list quickly - at least 1/3 are college towns, Gainsville (FL), Champaign (IL), Lawrence (KU), Corvalis (I believe is either Oregon or OSU), Cambridge, Iowa City, Ames, College Station, Bloomington... could be a lot more - those are all towns I have heard during college football or basketball games on TV

[mm34b]

A lot of them are just suburbs of larger cities. Three in the top ten are basically Washington, DC.

[Weis02]

The reason why the graduate degrees are higher in other areas is because of what is there, for ex, in and around MD,VA there are some top hospitals - that do lot of reseatch -John Hopkins, etc
in MA you have Harvard U and other hospital etc
and while there are a great many people in RTP that have Ph's due to the bio research the population is not a great when you compare to other larrger areas and the jobs..

While educational level says a lot about an area, it does not mean there are no educated people - remember bill gates he dropped out of Harvard and has no degree so take these for what their worth and the more I look a thse rankings and polls, they are worth less and less to me.

[thisguy]

Originally Posted by Weis02

The reason why the graduate degrees are higher in other areas is because of what is there, for ex, in and around MD,VA there are some top hospitals - that do lot of reseatch -John Hopkins, etc
in MA you have Harvard U and other hospital etc
and while there are a great many people in RTP that have Ph's due to the bio research the population is not a great when you compare to other larrger areas and the jobs..

While educational level says a lot about an area, it does not mean there are no educated people - remember bill gates he dropped out of Harvard and has no degree so take these for what their worth and the more I look a thse rankings and polls, they are worth less and less to me.

Well first it says more about if an area is 'white collar' or more 'blue collar' than pure "brain power'. That said, I don't like using the Bill Gates example because its always the extreme. Just like saying, buy this stock its the next Microsoft. No, in fact 99.9% of stocks are not Microsoft, just as 99.9% of non college educated are not Bill Gates.

Again, not saying there aren't bright people in "blue collar non college educated" circles, just as there are some truly dumb people who managed to get a college degree one way or the other. It probably says more about the type of jobs that congregrate in an area...hence I used the word 'smartest' in quotes in my original subject as smartest is quite subjective.

I think you can forget 2-3-4% differences from 1 town to the other, but 10% or differences of that magnitude from 1 city to another does say something about the "background" of the people that generally mingle there and end up living there.

[Check123]

One city having the most degreed people only means that there are no good colleges in the surrounding cities. And since having a bachelor's degree isn't a big deal, you need to find how many people have a masters or higher throughout the state, not one city.

Factoid: All the Ivy League Universities are located in the NorthEast.

[PDXmom]

Originally Posted by thisguy

I don't see Seattle or San fran there either? Although I believe Palo Alto is a suburb of SF?

Just scanning that list quickly - at least 1/3 are college towns, Gainsville (FL), Champaign (IL), Lawrence (KU), Corvalis (I believe is either Oregon or OSU), Cambridge, Iowa City, Ames, College Station, Bloomington... could be a lot more - those are all towns I have heard during college football or basketball games on TV

Corvalis is a TINY town... about 50K and it's Oregon State. Eugene is University of Oregon. Go Ducks!!