Blogs and Stories
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.
Click Image Below to View Our Gallery
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.
Stars Celebrate the Super Bowl
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
How Rich People Smoke Pot
Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
The World's 12 Most Fashionable Hotels
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
Best (And Worst) Cities to Find Love
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
Stars Celebrate the Super Bowl
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
llee611838
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.
jpelhamtn
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.
wakingowl
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
cbeenthere
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.
cbeenthere
Meaning they make time to read a lot.
DBFan2009
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.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Veronicaxy
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.
webmasterpdx
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....
lucypdx
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.
democracyforall
did they count amazon and other online booksellers?
lslass
No; Amazon sales are not recorded by Nielsen BookScan.
kafie1
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).
fists-of-fury
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.
wakingowl
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."
swm-76
llee611838:
obviously a stimulating point, but where would such data come from?
DrCreosote
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.
lslass
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.
jlassen
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.
moxichick
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!
exploora
And ...
#
Exploratorium
Experience exhibits from this museum of science, art, and human perception, located in the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Learn about their volunteer program ...
www.exploratorium.edu - 29k - Cached
#
Exploratorium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Exploratorium, based in San Francisco, created the "hands on" movement among ... explo.tv produces 50 educational Webcasts from the museum and locations around ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploratorium - 79k - Cached
Dylan111
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.
Veronicaxy
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.
BrentwoodMatt
and SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY, which, along with Stanford, led to the creation of Silicon Valley.
johnnyapplecd
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.
jst4horses
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.
deegeezee
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.
maximumcherry
Agreed, though I have to admit it is light years ahead of Vegas.
kemz1969
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.
ejacquelyn
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?
deegeezee
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."
connie47
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?
onelogicalthinker
Congratulations, you won the grand prize. A weekend getaway in Fresno.
robjh1
What does this say for the voters in these Cities?
"and we are not saved..."
DavidSB
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.
JohnnyAces
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.
smarttexan
Wow... why are you so hateful about Texas? Can't we all just get along?
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--JuliusCeasarJohnnyAces
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).
blackmarketbaby
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??
smarttexan
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...
AzureTexan
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.
BullMoose
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.
BransoMo
Texas is the developed world's leading state sponsored executioner, and ranks among Iran and China as one of the world's greatest executioners.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Sixkiller
For all you who obviously do not have a clue about Texas. Dallas-Ft. Worth Area has over 40,000 Restaurants. Dallas has been the Fashion hub of the Southwest for the last 100 years. . This list is flawed as it does not include the Major Suburbs of Dallas such as Plano, McKinney, Allen and others that include MUCH more than the Cities listed in the top 10 to 20. I realize you are all Bush haters and love to associate Texas with George Bush and whatever else your small minds have seen on Hollywood Produced TV shows. The Bush Family are transplanted from Massachusetts. Go figure!
Whereas I KNOW this list is biased and flawed is that Detroit, which is an absolute sh!thole and filled with so many welfare suckers....not including the very wealthy white island of Gross Point, is listed so high.
Every Defense Industry in the Country is in Texas. Every Tech Industry Company is in Texas. Most of the European Tech Industry have Divisions in Texas. Where most of your States and Cities are suffering badly from the piss poor economy, Texas is doing great! That would not be so if we were full of uneducated RedNecks now would it!
Just remember Children....between Los Angel's and New York is the rest of America.....and we do not need The East or the West Coast to do well! Especially in Texas!
::thumb nose::
spellz
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.
ConservativeIsaac
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.
AzureTexan
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.
JosephC
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.
Sixkiller
Joseph C
Austin is actually 2 Cities. Inner Austin is the Liberal University/Goth/Ideological/UT/Gay Rights City.
Austins outer ring is the Conservative crowd working in the Tech Industries there....the major Tax Payers.
There are so many layers to Austin that make it interesting.
Austin took the title of Music Capital of the Southwest from New Orleans a few years ago!
Open your mind and eyes my friend. Attitude governs your awareness! ;)
AtticaFlinch
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?
Tex999
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.
Appolinaire
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."
Dylan111
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.
artsyfartsy
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.
AzureTexan
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.
sagaderisa
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).
millerny
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.
cbeenthere
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.
krajewskit
Please extend the list to include cities with less population. I am sure Madison would be in top 5.
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--JuliusCeasarkemz1969
If you're talking about Madison, Wisconsin - I agree. Great schools and quality of life (so I hear from Wisconsinites).
whipmawhopma
krajewskit - A great small city. I lived there 1990 - 1995.
Nudger
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?
loloo33
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.
cbeenthere
True of the other rainy city, Portland Oregon
AlanD2
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...
cbeenthere
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.
cbeenthere
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.
saysCJ
OK getting very tired of hearing you talk ad nauseum, cbeenthere.
ketaminekitty
So very, very true. What is it about Seattle that makes you think everyone in the wold cares about your problems?
DBFan2009
...and true of the other rainy city, eugene oregon
cbeenthere
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.
kemz1969
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.
drlg12
"...as all are..."?
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.