The 8 most educated cities in America
These American cities have the highest number of residents with degrees and the strongest schools
It's long been said that higher education is the path to success — although some cities might have taken that advice a little too seriously.
WalletHub set out to find the most educated cities and metro areas, looking at the share of adults with high school, associate's, bachelor's, and graduate degrees. It also considered a city's quality of education and educational attainment, surveying important factors like an area's racial and gender educational gaps and the quality of local public school systems.
“Higher education doesn’t guarantee better financial opportunities in the future, but it certainly correlates with it," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.
"The most educated cities provide good learning opportunities from childhood all the way through the graduate level," he continued. "In addition to overall education, it’s also important to look at how well cities promote educational equality when it comes to race and gender.”
Keep reading to see which 8 cities and metro areas made the list and why.
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#8: Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, Texas
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Home to University of Texas's flagship state university, this metro area ranked eighth overall, coming in ninth place in educational attainment and sixth place in quality of education.
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#7: San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, California
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University of California, Berkeley is just one of many schools in the San Francisco metro area that helped it come in seventh overall. It ranked seventh in educational attainment and nineteenth in quality of education.
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#6: Raleigh, North Carolina
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Part of North Carolina's Research Triangle, Raleigh came in sixth overall, ranking fourth in educational attainment and twenty-seventh in quality of education.
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#5: Washington D.C.
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Washington D.C.'s metro area, which includes Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia and parts of Maryland, ranked fifth, coming in third for educational attainment but thirty-fifth for quality of education.
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#4: San Jose, California
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In the heart of California's tech sector, San Jose, along with Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, come in fourth, ranking fifth for educational attainment and sixteenth for quality of education.
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#3: Madison, Wisconsin
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Home to Wisconsin's flagship public university, Madison came in third overall thanks to a second-place ranking in educational attainment but a forty-ninth place ranking for quality of education.
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#2: Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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Another part of the Research Triangle, the Durham-Chapel Hill area ranked second, coming in sixth for educational attainment and first for quality of education.
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#1: Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Ann Arbor, home to University of Michigan, took the top prize, coming in first in educational attainment and fourth for quality of education.