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America's Smartest Cities—From First to Worst
Which metropolis has the most intelligent residents? The Daily Beast crunched the data on the brainpower of America’s 55 largest cities, from first-to-worst. How did your hometown rank?
Collective brainpower. More than sports prowess or political leanings or wealth or cultural accomplishments, this is the quintessential bragging point of a metropolitan area, the civic version of a playground taunt: I’m smart, you’re not.
So in terms of sorting out which cities walk the walk, The Daily Beast decided to play scorekeeper. Specifically, we’ve gone out and ranked the relative intelligence of every major American population hub, from first-to-worst.
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First, some rules of the game. We only ranked metropolitan areas (the cities and their suburbs) of 1 million people or more, using Census data, with the definition of each greater metropolitan area defined by Nielsen. That gave us 55 in all. All data was then organized on a per-capita basis, so that a resident of Norfolk, Virginia, and New York, New York, had equal weight. We’re looking for the brainiest cities, not the biggest.
Then we divided the criteria into two halves: Half for education, and half for intellectual environment. The education half encompassed how many residents had bachelor’s degrees (35 percent weighting) and graduate degrees (15 percent). No credit was given for “some college,” or “some grad school”—we rewarded those who finished the race. The intellectual environmental half had three subparts. First, we looked at nonfiction book sales (25 percent), as tracked by Nielsen BookScan, the nation’s leading provider of accurate point-of-sale data, which tracks roughly 300,000 titles each week. We focused on nonfiction as an imperfect proxy for intellectual vigor, because overall sales are dominated by fiction works that, while entertaining, aren’t always particularly thought-provoking. We also measured the ratio of institutions of higher education (15 percent), as defined by the federal government—different than just measuring college degrees, this acknowledges that universities don’t just churn out diplomas, but instead drive the intellectual vigor of cities. Finally, many studies link intelligence and political engagement, so we weighed this, too, as measured by the percentage of eligible voters who cast ballots in the last presidential election (10 percent). (Our relatively small weighting acknowledges that numerous other local factors can affect turnout.)
Once we had all these comparable, per-capita figures, we ranked the cities in each category, assigning 10 points to those near the very top, and 0 to the bottom, with scores allocated between in a broad bell curve. We then added the totals, and multiplied by two, which made for a perfect score of 200, a wash-out score of 0, and an average score right at 100—close to the exact parameters of a classic IQ test.
So behold, our first-ever rankings of America’s smartest cities, complete with The Daily Beast’s civic IQ total for each. It’s flawed, as all are such exercises, but also quite interesting and often telling. We intend to refine our methodology and welcome feedback.
Clark Merrefield was the chief researcher for this project. Book sales data provided by Nielsen BookScan.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
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Maybe you should look at non-fiction books lent by local libraries as well. By counting book sales you're counting how much money the people have for books. By also counting libraries you would get a better measure of how much people read, regardless of income.
Good point here and talk about subjective. Amazes me how many of these 'polls' follow old info or perceptions. What about the growing cities actually adding new jobs? What about places like Chattanooga, Tennessee that NPR identified, along with Paris & Chicago as one of the great cities of the 21st Century? How about smaller cities like Salem, Oregon or Oklahoma City, Oklahoma? There are many places around the US filled with 'smart' entreprenuers living in beautiful communities that never seem to be in view from the lofty perch of NYC.
You make a good point there, my friend. Oklahoma may have a lot of hicks but they love to read and the University is the pride and joy. Not just the sooner team, but the U with its town of 50000, Norman, is the pride of the state.
OU established the first liberal studies program in the country, everyone thought they were crazy. They went to Oxford to see how its done, and they did it right. Now every University in the country has a liberal studies program. or something like it. They send a lot of actors to NYC and Caliofornia through their theater dept. they are renowned for their oil geology program, education and law, and of course, the Sooner football team. It's a place where it's hard to tell where the university ends and the town begins. If part of culture is friendly, then OU ranks right up there with Raleigh Durham.
Cheers
Never mind that Portland Oregon has rain for nine months straight every year, and people do not come out in the rain there, because they don't like umbrellas. True.
Meaning they make time to read a lot.
i have to agree wholeheartedly with you on the portland area. i lived in eugene for five years in this century and people there actually "prided" themselves in the fact that they didn't carry umbrellas. it rains so much, with a low cloud overhang 9 months of the year, that you'll be doing good to read anything while you're lying in bed all the time from seasonal affect disorder.
cbeenthere: I've been in the Portland area for 25 years, and I have almost never had to use my umbrella. (I always carry one, being an old-time backpacker - be prepared, you know!) Most rain here is a gentle mist - nothing like Midwest downpours!
I have noticed that rain here is a lot less frequent these days. Our climate seems to be moving toward what California's used to be (I lived in the L.A. area for 13 years before moving to Oregon).
Calling out a big book store as a key proofpoint about the intelligence of Portland was weird, maybe a little lazy on TBD's part.
How about Portland area industries like solar, biotech, the world's largest microprocessor R&D and design population, innovative social initiatives like integrating biking into car traffic, the nations leading 'green' fashion week, one of the first mass transportation malls?
It's a crowd that loves to innovate, or is willing to tolerate others giving something new a try. Someday the money will catch up in the university system here and watch it really take off.
I'm from Portland, and people don't pride themselves on any such thing. They just don't use umbrellas as it rains all the time. We find it funny when someone from s california starts complaining when it's slightly drizzly and we just walk around and get our hair wet....no big deal. Now, when it's pouring (as it sometimes is), then we'll use an umbrella or avoid the rain. Mostly we just wear a coat with a waterproof hood.
As for intelligence.....I think voting republican doesn't make you more intelligent (think limbaugh dittoheads).....yes, we are all different, yes, we are original, yes, we do what Rush tells us....:-)
Tech literature means you read for your business, but fiction reading really points to intelligence (if you can find the time these days).
Art and musical prevalence usually indicates intelligence to me, along with strong mathematical abilities among the intelligentia. Maybe the number of people that watch the discovery channel, etc....(however judging by the number of UFO shows on these channels of late, that metric is getting a bit blurred too :-)
Intelligence itself is a subjective metric. There are all kinds of intelligence. Those who are math smart, and those who are people smart, for example....
Actually Cleveland tops Portland for most rainy days per year. Yet we never hear about how rainy it is in Cleveland. But that's fine with me. Yes, people, it rains here ALL THE TIME. It's dreary and grey and just depressing. You don't want to live here. Honest. Just don't come.
did they count amazon and other online booksellers?
No; Amazon sales are not recorded by Nielsen BookScan.
I agree with your library comment. Cincinnati (where I live) is in the bottom 10% in books sales according to this list, but we have one of the nation's most active libraries and are one of the nation's most literate cities.
I'm also curious to know if they measured online book sales and sales from stores outside the cities' limits. Many of Cincinnati's book stores are in suburban shopping centers or just across the river in Kentucky (which is a short walk from downtown).
kafie1 -- I can't believe you think Cincinnati deserves to be bumped up because of a couple of Barnes & Nobles in Northern Kentucky and way out in the 'burbs
I had the experience of living there for a few years. Generally nice people, but, seriously, the lack of support of education is AWFUL. When the University of Cincinnati got a new president who wanted to improve the school's academic standards and put her foot down on the football coach's hard-partying ways with co-eds, who got the support? Coach, naturally.
And, really, there is just not the same importance placed on a college education there as in other cities, like San Francisco, where a graduate degree is basically required to survive. If you throw Kentucky into the mix, you're really looking to dip down.
The truth is, the whole thing was biased. Edcation is not defined by degree or certificate but by the sum total of learning. It took me two years after retirement to begin reading anything out of the psychology field. After all, a PhD must never get behind in his field. that's the kind of muddle headed thinking that drives some with higher degrees to question where one went to school, presuming naturally, that they went to only an acceptable school of psychology. It is not where you took your training so much as it is how much empathy you have, coupled with common sense and the investigative instinct of a great detective(few of which brag of a PhD Degree). Any person who brags about his/her education is a fool and unworthy of higher education, which would never teach that kind of eliteism. Moreover, I have met some very educated people riding the rapids on the Colorado or the Green rivers; they held no degrees at all but were avid readers and participants in public life, making huge marks in business, school boards, and constabulary, among many other pursuits, including law enforcement and community teaching. It is folly to label the whole state of Texas as cracker without having visited or knowing anyone from there. Texas draws students from alll over the world to study law, medicine, engineering and political science. Its business school is a model for many other universities, including Oklahoma. " The possibility of ignorance opens when minds close."
llee611838:
obviously a stimulating point, but where would such data come from?
I was transplanted from a city just north of Salt Lake City, UT to a town just outside of Fresno, CA. Frankly, I'm not surprised at Fresno's ranking. Gangs, meth, and a belief that this is nothing more than an agricultural community hold these people down, yet the meth generation has little interest in working in the fields. The place is overpopulated, leading to rampant unemployment, which fuels the meth and gang apparatus. I would be interested to see how Fresno rates against the other cities when high school exit exams are entered in the formula. I don't have a lot of hope though.
Agreed. Not only that, but the article neglects to indicate the fact that BookScan data does not record Amazon sales as well as sales from non-reporting entities. The data is dubious for this exercise at best.
I'd argue that a city that's supporting--rather than closing--its public libraries is much "smarter" than one that is not supportive of libraries.
Bookscan DOES record Amazon sales. It is just the methodology used in this ranking scheme does not apply those sales to specific regional communities, because that would require Amazon to participate, and share its propriety sales data, which It has no compelling reason to do.
But PLEASE stop saying that Bookscan doesn't record amazon sales. This is one of the least relevant criticisms of the methodology used.
Frankly, the political participation ranking is problematic for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it skews against cities with a younger population.
Also, it could be argued that communities that HAVE local bookstores that generate bookscan data is in itself an indicator of intelligence. And yes, bookscan does include sales from a large number if independent bookstores as well.
Having grown up in San Francisco I thought that everyone had a degree. It wasn't until I moved out that I realized that the opposite was true! By the way... The other renowned universities in the area are Stanford, UC San Francisco, and San Francisco State University!
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Coming from New Haven (#6), I also had the same experience. Even members of the older generation--those like my mother who might have liked to go to college but couldn't afford it during the Depression--were all so literate, constantly reading books, the newspapers, magazines. They all seemed to know what was going on in the world; they voted. It was a shock to encounter the anti-intellectualism in other parts of the country, especially the rural South and West.
I went to college in the Bay Area and was really surprised at the comparatively poor education of people who went to the public K-12 schools there though, including in the city of Berkeley.
and SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY, which, along with Stanford, led to the creation of Silicon Valley.
This list was a fun, if galling, read. However, nonfiction book sales, degrees per capita, voter turnout... this list would be much more accurate if titled "America's Most Educated Cities", I think most would agree that "smart" is a highly subjective designation. Of course, then, it wouldn't draw what is sure to be a great amount of ire, the way TDB likes to do.
I agree.
Education is not exactly smart.
Otherwise Bill Gates would not be one of our richest citizens, and many a MA and PHD and other degreed person way at the other end of the spectrum.
Not that money means smart either.
But Bill Gates is smart, and comparatively under educated.
There are many people with smarts who never finished high school.
Actually, in our lovely burg, the smarter people probably do not finish high school, it is filled with gangs, boring foolishness, and even teachers who hate the programming.
Sad.
this ranking CANNOT be right. there's no way Philthydelphia is "smart," by any metric. as someone who's lived in several different cities including that one, i can honestly say philly isn't up there.
Agreed, though I have to admit it is light years ahead of Vegas.
What about University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, Temple University, Villanova University? A children's hospital that rivals any other hospital in the nation - hundreds of graduate programs - big on research - political powerhouses? What about all those things? Otherwise, i would agree with you. When you compare Boston to Philadelphia, there's no question.
Have u even been to Philadelphia in the last 20 years? I can assure you that there are countless intelligent and interesting people in this city. I find it ignorant for you to say something so ridiculous and out of line. Philly has a great arts community, excellent universities and great night life. In 2005, Nat'l Geographic named Philadelphia as America's Next Great City but I guess u know more than them, right?
yeah, last year i moved out. it has one "excellent" university and a lot of average schools -- but even those students are only temporary residents, who only venture into Philly proper when they visit South Street hipster bars every other Saturday. the average Phil is not smart and has a really disgusting South Jersey-esque accent.
it's also dirty as hell, and the residents are even ruder than new yorkers.
and do you think NG's 2005 prediction came true? i don't, unless a rash of cop-killings makes it a "Great City."
Wow, I must be really smart. From 6th grade through college, I grew up in #4, then moved to #2. After 10 years abroad, I moved to #1.
Did I win some kind of prize?
Congratulations, you won the grand prize. A weekend getaway in Fresno.
What does this say for the voters in these Cities?
"and we are not saved..."
I've never been really sure what value these sorts of rankings have -- other than to make residents of highly-ranked cities feel smug and to make residents of low-ranked cities feel inadequate. I guess a few people might use them in relocation decisions, but most people move based on factors like job availability and family ties rather than statistical rankings.
Nevertheless, the deed has been done, so I'll offer a few observations about the ranking criteria:
First, I'll echo the comment above about public library circulation as an adjunct to book sales. In fact, it might even be that the two are indirectly related with book purchasing occuring to compensate for poor library collections. Regardless, the two items should probably be combined for the best measurement of how well-read a city is.
Second, I think that counting the number of universities within a metro area skews the ranking in favor of older cities that came of age when colleges and universities were being founded in large numbers. In newer cities which have come of age since that era, the more likely scenario is to have a few large public universities within the region. In other words, a city like Boston or Philadelphia scores high due to myriad small colleges. A city like Phoenix or Las Vegas scores low due to being dominated by a single high-capacity state institution. Has it been demonstrated that either model does a better job of educating the population, however? Are numerous small and medium-sized institutions instrinsically better than a few large institutions? I don't know, but it's a question worth discussing. Maybe a better measurement is the total university capacity (number of seats) relative to a metro area's population. Of course, this issue is further complicated by the increasing popularity of distance education, even at the most prestigious universities, resulting in student enrollment not always being concentrated in a university's home city.
Impressive showing by the state of Texas. Excluding Austin, they are at the bottom of the list for the rest of their major cities. Perhaps the country would be substantially smarter if Texas wasn't included in this analysis. I am now fully onboard with their secession plans.
Wow... why are you so hateful about Texas? Can't we all just get along?
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Yeah, Julius kind of speaks for me too. The only thing he missed was the arrogance associated with Texas. Sorry smarttexan. I usually try to be a uniter, not a divider. But, in this case I can't help it. I have several distant relatives and friends of friends that live in Texas. Everyone of them is racist and egotistic. Bush really put me over the edge. I think your state would be better off on it's own (Austin excluded).
Ha, it's funny, i grew up in Houston (and left at age 18) and am not suprised in the least that those 3 cities scored so low on the scale. All of those things listed by Julius are SO true, add terrible drivers and ignorance. I have alot of family in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and I have a hard time at family gatherings putting up with them...... the egotism is true too, i have to admit, for some reason anytime someone talks about Texas there is something in me tinging with Texas pride for no explainable reason... maybe it's in the disgustingly polluted air of the Texas cities??
life is so short, why do you all have to be so angry. i think it is funny to lump all texans by your few experiences... i certainly don't stereotype other states just by their presidents and small minded family members. texas is a very large state that has alot to offer everyone... a beautiful hill country, dessert, snow, beaches, great music, an amazing art culture and wonderful restaurants...it's a shame you really don't KNOW any texans...
smarttexan:
Thanks for your attempt, probably futile, to enlighten the "enlightened" readership about the great and singularly idiosyncratic state of Texas. As I mentioned previously on another site: Even I, as a liberal, am inclined to circle the wagons and protect my fellow Texans, conservative or progressive or, for that matter, illiterate, from the abuse daily inflicted on us by the 'Net commentariat - abuse that in any other context would qualify as the kind of hate crime that liberals so eagerly denounce.
As for this list and its inevitable commentary: Why do all the usual Lone Star condemnations begin with the same disclaimer - "With the exception of Austin. . ."? Austin is not an outlier. It's in the heart of Texas. And
according to the rankings, with the exception of New York City, the state of New York places only Rochester, at No. 26, and Buffalo, at No. 44, on the list. I can promise you: Dallas has more than an Applebee's. Who's bright?
P.S. On Friday I purchased, at a second-hand bookstore, 11 books - most of them classics - for $11. I'm fairly certain that my purchase, which included George Eliot's "Middlemarch," did not register on the Nielsen BookScan, but I'm reasonably confident that my 11-for-11 outlay makes me smarter than someone who plunks down $29.95 at Barnes & Noble for a Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly or Ann Coulter piece of hardback manure.
Tex-as ? I here they do everything big there. Like one of there own leaving the country in the worst shape financially, militatily, and all around hated by the rest of the world.
Just take one draft dodging , silver spoon fed frat boy, and the USA is ruined forever. Thanks Shrub, even if you were just a Texas carpetbagger.
Texas is the developed world's leading state sponsored executioner, and ranks among Iran and China as one of the world's greatest executioners.
So you base your opinion on this publication alone? True critical thinking would beg to seek out several sources. I was born and raised in Austin, and though I've been gone for 15 years I still regard it as home. I am aware that it is different from the rest of the Lone Star State but nothing in my experience of 50 years in Texas could make me agree with the rest of the rankings. Dallas/Ft. Worth and Houston have much to offer - if we were to focus only on medical research and nothing else those two locations should rank very high.
I'm sorry so many of you hate Texas so much, but I'm sorry for you - it doesn't hurt my feelings. I don't hate you or any place or the people of any particular place. I understand that George W. Bush is certainly an issue but could I introduce you to Barbara Jordan? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Jordan You cannot find a more eloquent and brilliant politician. She gained national prominence during the Watergate hearings. Walter Cronkite, though born in Missouri, came to Texas as a young child and attended the University of Texas, and though he left shortly before graduation, he continued to support UT until his recent death. His voice is heard on many of the UT "commercials" during NCAA sports broadcasts. Buddy Holly, anybody? Intellectual? No, but what was his range of influence?
Maybe I'm too old and these figures are not known to you.
Don't assume that all of us are gun-totin', executin', pollutin', racist meth heads.
Hate if it makes you feel better...I assume you'll never set foot in Texas, anyway, so I don't feel threatened.
It funny that all these retarded liberals are attacking Texas, yet our economy is doing awesome and California is on the verge of becoming a failed state. Anyone who has been to Austin and is from somewhere else in Texas hates it. No sports teams, winding roads that don't make sense, and a Culinary scene that falls far short of the big three. This list has Houston behind New Orleans, seriously. I think this ranking needs to insert common sense. Last time I went to New Orleans (2 months ago), it looked like a 3rd world country.
Trust me when I say that Isaac speaks for no one but Isaac.
If you don't love Austin, you've got a problem with love.
I'm acutally a big liberal and hate Austin for the fact that it is self proclaimed to be so "weird" or "liberal".......right, if that were even possible in the heart of conservative texas, with your neighbor Rick Perry...give me a break. Plus, the intelligence factor...its simply not there. By having a big university present there does not rank you as a smart city. They need to look at the students who come from other areas of the country to UT. Majority of the student body is not from Austin.
That's genius of you, Johnny. Your contention is a dumb as this list. Take a list where 25% of the total points are weighted based on an inaccurate Neilsen survey, using only non-fiction books in the rubric, of which right now a cookbook, two right-wing pieces of propaganda, a memoir by Kathy Griffin, the biography of a football player, the Guinness book of records and an SAT study guide are the highlights, and what you've got is a list as meaningless and insipid as your take on Texas. The big contention listed by this dumb website is Houston has an abysmal amount of post-graduate facilities. I guess they failed to even notice the number of Medical schools (Texas Medical Center, much?) and Law schools this city offers. Not to mention, all five of the universities located in the city limits offer PhD programs. Our high school/bachelor/graduate degree ratios are on par with every other major city in this country, so I'm not sure how this site worked out those numbers either.
This list is garbage and the methodology can't stand up to the least bit of scrutiny, but it sure helps you feel smug, doesn't it, Johnny?
I'm a grad student at UT and thus live in Austin. I have never been to a more dim-witted city with citizens still in denial. At least Fresno embraces their stupidity, or at least accepts it. This town pretends to be different from the rest of its state of texas for its "unique qualities". I have news.....every city has unique qualities it doesn't make it smarter or better. Bottom line, Austin is all woven from the same self-righteous texas cloth: ignorance, prejudice and BBQ from plain country hill folk.
I never thought that I would be defending Cincinnati, where I live after a decade in Paris and years in Manhattan, but here it goes. The reason why book sales are poor is because the library system is ranked as one of the best in the country. If I see or hear of a book that I am interested in reading, I order it from the library. If they don't have it, they borrow it from another library system or purchase it. There is no reason why anyone here would buy a book, hence, as is mentioned in this ranking, "the book sales are lousy."
Connecticut also has a great library system--with all the same features you mentioned. Yet we have high book sales as well, which I understand because there are many books that I want to add to my personal library. In fact it is rare that I walk into someone's house here who doesn't have filled bookcases.
At least you had a funny television show set in your city: WKRP in Cinncinati, so I wouldn't feel too bad, Appolinaire.
Same with Columbus. Great library system - covers the city and all suburbs.
Poll said "The capital and academic hub of Ohio was surprisingly poorly read"
Non-fiction is more thought-provoking? Please. Books by Coulter, Malkin, O'Reilly, Beck, and oh god, Palin are complete trash. And to AzureTexan, I hope you like Middlemarch, but I found it quite a slog.
Just between me and you, I'm planning to display Middlemarch in my bookcase only so that my overlord, JohnnyAces, will think I'm smart.
Hey! Holding DC's low-voter participation against it isn't fair: DC doesn't have representation in Congress (okay, they have one non-voting member in the House, but still, not fair).
On DC: "Then again, the area's relatively low voter-participation score doesn't say much for what government workers think of their employers. "
If I were one of the ~600,000 residents whose vote didn't really count (no voting representatives or senators,) I probably wouldn't vote, either.
Add that to having virtually no say over the city budget that Congress deigns to dole out, it is very discouraging. Also, so many of the government workers cannot afford to live in the city, and MD and VA are right there.
Please extend the list to include cities with less population. I am sure Madison would be in top 5.
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If you're talking about Madison, Wisconsin - I agree. Great schools and quality of life (so I hear from Wisconsinites).
krajewskit - A great small city. I lived there 1990 - 1995.
Could you possibly use a more annoying format for presenting the rankings?? Are you trying to look like Parade Magazine on purpose? How about a nice, simple list of hyperlinks?
I've lived in Seattle for years and years, everybody reading books on the bus and seems smart, but they are incredibly socially retarded. It doesn't matter how smart people is, it's matter how they react and communicate with other people.
True of the other rainy city, Portland Oregon
cbeenthere: I agree. One of my bike rides this summer was 20 miles on the Springwater Corridor trail. I must have passed 200 bikers / walkers / joggers, and not a single one said hello to me first.
I made a point of saying hi to every person I passed, but only a handful replied, and perhaps two or three smiled back at me. Sort of sad...
AanD2-My progeny moved to LA, and I thought I was being clever moving to Oregon, one year in Eugene and another in Portland. Although it was nice being in the same time zone, I was unprepared for the grey skies (mist, rain whatever), the summer heat from the desert, and the age of the population, not to mention the expense. I returned to the East Coast (had a good home and I left it) where, at least, you can swim in the ocean in the summer. As much as I wanted to like it, it did not work out for me at all. I think if you move there before you begin to atrophy, one can make it. Those nine months of hibernation are not healthy. I was the only one out walking my dog during the hibernation, it was lonely. I just did not get it. Plus, I had the misfortune of occupying a residence three feet from the only Republican in the Pearl District. Oh, what a living hell that was.
Ps cause she hated my dependent older dog, and would not allow her two barks (when I went to the bank) to settle in, and she liked the idea that she could remand her to the pound. And she was a damn 30 something. So much for Oregon.
OK getting very tired of hearing you talk ad nauseum, cbeenthere.
So very, very true. What is it about Seattle that makes you think everyone in the wold cares about your problems?
...and true of the other rainy city, eugene oregon
Yes, the dark clouds you describe are a fact of life there, neverrmind that the U of Oregon offers no classes for the older generation, something that is thriving in other university towns. You have to take a class thru the community college of Lane County. Try their class in ghostbusting. How interesting and developmental. A town for young college students only.
I lived in Seattle for about 3 years and I can tell you - I'm shocked Seattle isn't in the top 3. Very shocked. Denver beat out Seattle??? Something's wrong with the criteria.
"...as all are..."?
Uh, hello? Have you people even heard of Albuquerque? I know it's hard to spell, but it is in the U.S., in NEW Mexico (NOT Mexico), and it's one of the smartest cities around. It has a vibrant university, Sandia Labs, Intel (which manufactures computer chips, without which none of us geeks could communicate with each other), nearby Los Alamos, nearby Santa Fe (which should qualify as a smart city also except that it's not really a city), etc., etc. What were your staff thinking?
I like Albuquerque.
I visited Albuquerque twice in my life - hated it! I'm really shocked Phoenix is at the bottom of the list. But at least they made the list.
According to Wikipedia, the population of Albuquerque as of July 1, 2008 was 845,913. This particular survey only evaluated cities with populations of 1 million . I'm sure it, as well as some others mentioned, like Madison, WI, would have done well if they'd have been included.
@ardeth you make good points and I for one love the area you're describing.
Intel in NM though isn't a design or R&D center, it's mostly a manufacturing site.
Albuquerque was also #1 on the list of "Best places to live in the US" a few months ago, referred to as one of the best kept secret cities because not many people think of moving there. I lived in New Mexico, climate is wonderful yearround, people are very nice. Albuquerque is a great city to live in. And if this survey included small towns too, Los Alamos would be #1 due to Los Alamos National Lab.
If Albuquerque were to be on this list, it would be last, a cesspool of ignorance, crime and dirt
And it should remain a kept secret. Its that dreadful.
Maybe I should be proud that my hometown in NC town beat out my adopted hometown of the SF & the Bay Area. But this is nuts. Didn't the study account for the dark side of a place? As much as I adore Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Durham--along with Asheville these are the bright spots on a dark continent of NC--the redneck/Jesse Helms/neocon element of RDCh should bring the scores down, a lot, shouldn't they? That dark element is alive and well throughout the South.
And if they say the Bay Area isn't as politically engaged as RDCh, they're nuts. Of course, SF/SJ's local governments are pretty great already, and maybe we don't have to work so hard. In NC, you have to work all day and all night just to make sure the guys in office don't embarrass you.
So I'll disagree on this one. Next time, the authors need to travel to the places first.
I lived in Durham for two years. Durham itself was nice but the people were awful and just because a University is expensive doesn't make the students smart.
When did you live in Raleigh last? A lot has changed in the last decade, especially with so many new jobs opening in the South. Dumb and ignorant people can be found anywhere. I've lived in Raleigh, Boston, and now Seattle and I can attest to that.
When was the last time you spent any meaningful time in the Triangle? It's not the place you make it out to be. Now, before you dismiss my opinion, be advised that my life is opposite of yours. I grew up in the Bay Area and adopted Raleigh as my hometown. So, while you see NC as the land of hicks and Jesse Helms supporters, keep in mind that it's also the newest Blue state that has a Democrat (female) governor and is controlled by Demcratic party. Unlike CA, it doesn't have an amendment to its constitution banning gay marriage and it isn't run by an action hero. It's housing market isn't imploding and people aren't fleeing in droves. See? It's really easy to take pop shots at a place if you only zero in on the negatives that you perceive.
Raleigh is the fastest growing metro in the nation and it's attacting the best and the brightest from other areas as it has since the 60's. It's retaining much of NC's best and brightest as well. I think the ranking is well deserved and hard earned. The state's leaders established the roadmap for the area back in the 50s and it continues to pay off for the area.
Odd that some very violent cities made it into the top 10. Smart but not smart enough.
Editors: Please clarify that Raleigh-Durham is not a city. Raleigh is the capital of NC, Durham is its own city in an adjoining county, as is Chapel Hill. Together they form a geographical and demographical area called the Triangle. Raleigh-Durham is often used as shorthand for the AREA but it is the name of the airport, located in Raleigh. Also, you mention UNC as one of the universities that make us "smart" but UNC is in Chapel Hill. NCSU is in Raleigh, Duke in Durham. i'm a UNC guy but NCSU should not get short shrift; it is one of THE engineering schools in the nation.
Neither is Seattle-Tacoma, or when you talk about Boston you are talking about Greater Boston including Cambridge, etc..
I guess they decided to go with Metropolitan areas, because otherwise Raleigh, Boston, and Seattle would not reach the 1 million person minimum
Thank you for pointing this out. I live in Raleigh which is most definitely not connected to Durham. Also, NCSU is largely responsible for the technical expertise the area is known for (Except for Medicine, which is the sole domain of UNC and Duke).
To the one who says Raleigh is not connected to Durham, what the heck is the Raleigh-Durham Airport?
Of course the mayor of Raleigh would call the metro area "Raleigh-Durham" even though everyone knows it's "Durham-Raleigh!"
The triangle region is host to MANY colleges/universities. UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, NCCU, NCSU, Peace College, Meredith College, St. Augustine's College, Shaw University...
I'm a little offended that the (grammatically incorrect) comment used to represent Buffalo was made by Willis McGahee - a football player who clearly isn't educated enough to speak properly and lived in the city for about 3 years. Buffalo has some world class art institutions, and more independent restaurants per capita than many major cities. The public school system in many of the suburbs rivals the best private schools in the country. A moronic football player's ignorant comments are not the best representation of the true character of a city that is called "The city of good neighbors"
Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill is a wonderful place to live by almost every measure.
Having lived there for the last 26 years after having been born and raised in the NYC metro area, I can attest its charms, not the least of which is its well-educated and cosmopolitan demographics. Add to that the fact that the area is really 'liveable;" not too crowded, the country right out your backdoor and the beaches and/or mountains within an easy ride. throw in the presence of UNC Chapel Hill (easily the prettiest campus in the country and a great University) and Duke and there are few places that can match it.
One huge drawback. Humidity! It's like a sauna in the summer.
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detroit
should
be
at
the
very
bottom
world cess
third pool
I think it's probably putting too much emphasis on the number of universities in a city. Those who can't, teach. They need to put more emphasis on finding those who effectively put that that education to use (and not just in educating others). We're very mobile, particularly when it comes to education.
That is extremely offensive. Where do you think all these "doers" get their educations? Just because you want to educate doesn't make you a loser who couldn't do anything else not to mention people with PhD's have the options of going into academia, government labs or industry labs (where they usually end up in a supervisory position.) So many choose academia so they can pursue their research interests themselves instead of supervising those with bachelor's degrees.
Re: Those who can't, teach
Are you serious? Perhaps you should give it a try some day. As a former teacher who left the classroom to pursue a higher salary, it has been my experience that many of those who "do" and then come to try to teach find that it is quite a bit more difficult than they were led to believe. Often, they don't let the door hit them on their way out. It's easy to say it's because the students are not well-behaved or blame it on other issues, but as often as not, it's because they thought it would be easy and found that not to be the case. For example, try explaining to someone WHY the quadratic formula works rather than just how to use it and then you will understand a small portion of the teacher's job (for the true teacher has to have more than one way to explain it AND has to know why they need to know it, because they will ask). Or, if math isn't your thing, try teaching a child to read. Please... understaffed schools can use all the volunteers they can get. As artsyfartsy indicated, if no one had taught the people who are in business and industry, then where would we be? Some would have taught themselves, but if you will recall, in the not-too-distant past, only the wealthy could afford to educate their children. Who knows what great ideas were never realized, or were realized much later, because those who could have been inventing, strategizing, or developing new ideas were not given the chance to move beyond survival due to the lack of an education? In college, when I was studying differential equations, I often helped my fellow classmates with their homework - you know, the cute guys in pre-med and engineering. I chose education because I was inspired by a great teacher, and, though there are times that I wish I had elected to stick with the engineers, I know that I made a difference in the lives of many students.
ThinkAgain, were you born reading? Did you educate yourself? You must have, because none of the teachers I've known over my 38 years of teaching would dare claim to have ever had you in their classrooms. I am so tired of hearing that tired phrase. " Those who can't, teach. " Please, get real. Without teachers, there wouldn't be doctors, lawyers, engineers or any other profession. You owe every teacher out here a great big apology.
i have to agree with those touting the local library systems of their various cities. i can't recall the last time i BOUGHT a book, but i utilize my local library constantly. when i see a new book i want to read (and some were listed here recently on daily beast) i put in a reserve at the library's online web site and as soon as the book comes in i am one of the first to read it. same goes for the latest films on DVD. i haven't rented a popular video since 2003. no need. it's all at the library.
I can buy a lot of books on amazon.com, read them, then resell them on amazon.com. When I do the math, this is cheaper than the gas it would take to drive to the library. On top of that, I don't have to deal with the stench of the homeless in the library.
everything you need is online with most library systems. my books/dvds/whatever it is i put on reserve is taken to my neiborhood branch (if located in another branch or main library), which is about two blocks from where i live.
one can also request a book from the "inter-library" - if your book isn't in your local library, they search for it at other libraries. i've gotten two books this way.
My library smells great and I can walk to it, so my math supports the library option. I read a book or two a week, so I've saved thousands over the past few years, I believe a more accurate measure would be book purchases in combination with library lending.
I almost never use a library. I respond to the ideas in the book, so I write in the margins and must buy the book. Besides, too many books are banned to be easily available, especially those with Christian principles .
my library doesn't ban books. if you can't find it in our library, they will look for it in another. your tax dollars support your library system. i frankly couldn't live without a library, especially since i don't have much money to spend otherwise.
Christian principled books are not banned from libraries. Collection development is based on circulation patterns, requests, and popularity. If your library does not have the books you want, request them. Make your voice heard.
Your population numbers for the Cities are a joke. Example 19 million people don't live in NewYork City it's the whole state, Denver Metro doesn't have 4.3 million people, Colorado has only about 4.7 million folks. So do your homework before you blap or quit wasting electrons and time
There are 19 Million in the NY Metro Area.
If you had looked at Manhattan by itself, I am sure it would have made the top ten list.
There are 19 million in the metro NYC area. Where are you from? Do you know what a metro area is?
Thank you.
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