Washington-Arlington-Alexandria is the Most Educated City in America
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Congratulations are in order for Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV; you are the most educated city in America. This achievement is based on having the highest percentage of college-educated inhabitants.
The new poll was released by The New York Times using data from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. The poll ranked the 100 largest metropolitan areas in America based on the number of college-educated inhabitants. While Washington-Arlington-Alexandria is at the top of the heap, Bakersfield-Delano, CA is at the bottom.
The poll used data that was collected in 2010 and 46.8 percent of Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV residents were college-educated. In comparison, 40 years prior, only 22.1 percent of residents were college-educated. The average population of college-educated denizens for the 100 cities was around 29.7 percent.
Six other cities can boast alongside Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV as having more than 40 percent of its inhabitants being college-educated. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA had the second largest population of college-educated at 45.3 percent.
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT (44 percent), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA (43.4 percent) and Madison, WI (43.3 percent) rounded out the top five American cities. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH (43 percent) and Raleigh-Cary, NC (41 percent) were the remaining cities to have over 40 percent of its residents being college-educated, landing at number six and seven on the list, respectively.
Several other large metropolises did quite well on the list. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX came in at number eight with 39.4 percent, New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA was 12th on the list with 36 percent, Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI took the 18th spot on the list with 34 percent. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA was 36th with 31 percent of their residents being college-educated, Pittsburgh, PA tied with Springfield, MA for 49th place, with each of their cities having 29.1 percent of its inhabitants being college-educated.
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH had the largest change in 40 years. In 1970, only 14.2 percent of its population was college-educated, the 2010 numbers marked a growth of 28.8 percent.
In 1970, Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, PA had the lowest number of college-educated residents, 5.7 percent, while little has changed at the top with Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV having the largest number of college-educated residents in 1970 at 22.1 percent.
The city with the least amount of growth was also the city with the smallest number of college-educated inhabitants. Only 15 percent of Bakersfield-Delano, CA residents were college educated a 6.6 increase from their 1970 population (8.9 percent). McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX had the second lowest number of college-educated residents with 15.8 percent. California had three of the five cities with the lowest number of college-educated citizens, with Modesto (16 percent) and Stockton (17.7 percent) joining Bakersfield-Delano.
While the crown goes to Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV for having the largest percentage of its population being college-educated, that's not to say it is the smartest, most educated or even the most charming. That debate is still ongoing.