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Smartest Cities

10.23.10

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Smartest Cities

For the second year in a row, The Daily Beast crunches the numbers for America’s 55 largest cities, ranking their brainpower from first-to-worst. How does your hometown fare?

10.23.10 1:39 PM ET

smartest-cities---new-haven — HARTFORD-NEW HAVEN
**#2, Hartford, Conn.**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 159.98
**2009 rank:** 6
**Metropolitan area population:** 2,044,004
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 19%
**Graduate degrees:** 15%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 2,263,000

smartest-cities---san-francisco — SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND-SAN JOSE
**#3, San Francisco Bay Area, Calif.**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 156.69 2009 rank: 2
**Metropolitan area population:** 6,157,736
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 26%
**Graduate degrees:** 17%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 7,785,000

RALEIGH-DURHAM
**#4, Raleigh/Durham, N.C.**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 148.36
**2009 rank:** 1
**Metropolitan area population:** 1,627,055
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 27%
**Graduate degrees:** 16%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 1,913,000

smartest-cities---denver — DENVER
**#5, Denver, Colo.**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 146.70
**2009 rank:** 5
**Metropolitan area population:** 2,554,474
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 25%
**Graduate degrees:** 13%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 4,040,000

smartest-cities---seattle — SEATTLE-TACOMA
**#6, Seattle, Wash.**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 141.69
**2009 rank:** 7
**Metropolitan area population:** 3,407,848
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 24%
**Graduate degrees:** 13%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 5,154,000

AUSTIN
**#7, Austin, Texas**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 140.01
**2009 rank:** 12
**Metropolitan area population:** 1,705,075
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 26%
**Graduate degrees:** 13%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 1,553,000

smartest-cities---minneapolis — MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL
**#8, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 138.34
**2009 rank:** 4
**Metropolitan area population:** 3,269,814
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 25%
**Graduate degrees:** 12%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 3,275,000

smartest-cities---washington-dc — WASHINGTON, DC
**#9, Washington, D.C.**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 130.05
**2009 rank:** 7 (tie)
**Metropolitan area population:** 5,476,241
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 25%
**Graduate degrees:** 23%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 7,356,000

smartest-cities---rochester — ROCHESTER, NY
**#10, Rochester, N.Y.**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 126.65
**2009 rank:** 26
**Metropolitan area population:** 1,035,566
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 19%
**Graduate degrees:** 13%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 745,000

smartest-cities---portland — PORTLAND, OR
**#11, Portland, Ore.**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 125.02
**2009 rank:** 9
**Metropolitan area population:** 2,241,913
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 22%
**Graduate degrees:** 12%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 2,936,000

smartest-cities---kansas-city — KANSAS CITY
**#12, Kansas City, Missouri**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 124.98
**2009 rank:** 17 (tie)
**Metropolitan area population:** 2,066,732
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 21%
**Graduate degrees:** 11%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 1,455,000

smartest-cities---salt-lake-city — SALT LAKE CITY
**#13, Salt Lake City, Utah**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 123.36
**2009 rank:** 14
**Metropolitan area population:** 1,130,293
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 20%
**Graduate degrees:** 10%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales: 2,699,000**

smartest-cities---philadelphia — PHILADELPHIA
**#14, Philadelphia, Penn.**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 123.34
**2009 rank:** 11
**Metropolitan area population:** 5,968,252
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 19%
**Graduate degrees:** 13%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 6,151,000

MILWAUKEE
**#15, Milwaukee, Wisc.**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 121.66
**2009 rank:** 15
**Metropolitan area population:** 1,559,667
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 20%
**Graduate degrees:** 11%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 1,340,000

smartest-cities---new-york — NEW YORK
**#16, New York, N.Y.**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 120.02
**2009 rank:** 13
**Metropolitan area population:** 19,069,796
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 21%
**Graduate degrees:** 15%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 18,831,000

smartest-cities---cleveland — CLEVELAND
**#17, Cleveland, Ohio**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 119.99
**2009 rank:** 31 (tie)
**Metropolitan area population:** 2,091,286
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 17%
**Graduate degrees:** 10%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 2,024,000

smartest-cities---san-diego — SAN DIEGO
**#18, San Diego, Calif.**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 116.68
**2009 rank:** 20 (tie)
**Metropolitan area population:** 3,053,793
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 22%
**Graduate degrees:** 13% Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales: 2,624,000

COLUMBUS
**#19, Columbus, Ohio**
**Daily Beast IQ Score:** 116.65
**2009 rank:** 17 (tie)
**Metropolitan area population:** 1,801,848
**Bachelor’s degrees:** 22%
**Graduate degrees:** 11%
**Year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales:** 1,248,000

gallery

Smartest Cities

gallery

Smartest Cities

10.23.10 1:39 PM ET

AP Photo

BOSTON

HARTFORD-NEW HAVEN

SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND-SAN JOSE

Matej Krajcovic

RALEIGH-DURHAM

Doug Pensinger / Getty Images

DENVER

SEATTLE-TACOMA

Jack Plunkett / AP Photo

AUSTIN

MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL

WASHINGTON, DC

ROCHESTER, NY

AP Photo

PORTLAND, OR

KANSAS CITY

SALT LAKE CITY

PHILADELPHIA

MILWAUKEE

NEW YORK

CLEVELAND

SAN DIEGO

Kiichiro Sato / AP Photo

COLUMBUS

Greg Pease / Getty Images

BALTIMORE