Metro Area Population: 1,578,527
Daily Beast IQ Score: 170
Raleigh-Durham has just about every intangible useful in attracting and developing a smart populace: It’s a university hub, including three of the nation’s elite schools (Duke, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University), and those schools led to one of the nation’s great technology incubators (Research Triangle). On top of that, Raleigh, as the state’s capital, attracts engaged political minds, as well. “We are fortunate to have great universities in Raleigh-Durham and great ‘smart’ industries that enrich our community greatly,” Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker told The Daily Beast. Enrichment enough to top our list.
Matej Krajcovic
Metro Area Population: 6,093,729
Daily Beast IQ Score: 165
Like Raleigh-Durham, the Bay Area’s great universities (University of California-Berkeley) spawned a world-class technology hub, and the brains follow. On a per capita basis, the number of people with college and graduate degrees was right at the top. The Bay Area only fell short of No. 1 because of a relatively low score in political engagement, undercutting the reputation of this notorious activist hotspot.
Metro Area Population: 4,522,858
Daily Beast IQ Score: 162
The Boston area is home to more than 100 universities, so it’s easy to understand why it ranked near the top for graduate degrees per capita. It’s the capital of Massachusetts, drawing in brains that way, too. A competitive intellectual atmosphere may also account for the area ranking in the top 10 percent in nonfiction book sales. “When you go into somebody’s office or you go into their home, one of the things you case out is their bookshelf,” says Fiery Cushman, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at Harvard University. “Bostonians have unrealistic expectations about how much reading they can get done.”
AP Photo
Metro Area Population: 3,229,878
Daily Beast IQ Score: 159
Minneapolis’ public-education system seems to have tragically failed its most famous son, Prince, composer of the curiously spelled “I Would Die 4 U.” But for everyone else it must be doing something right. The Twin Cities’ excellent scores in bachelor’s degrees per capita and voter participation vaulted them to the top five of our list. The Midwestern work ethic doesn’t hurt. “Knowing that we might be the best or one of the best on these key measures shouldn’t stop us from striving to do better,” says Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.
Metro Area Population: 4,425,110
Daily Beast IQ Score: 158
They’re educated. They’re well-read. And the denizens of Denver have a bit of cowboy swagger, as well. “It’s rewarding to see Denver ranked among the smartest metro areas in the country, though we’re not entirely surprised,” says Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. “Smart, successful people are drawn to places like the Denver metro area because of our reputation for innovation and quality of life.”
Doug Pensinger / Getty Images
Metro Area Population: 1,190,512
Daily Beast IQ Score: 156
Does age bring wisdom? Sure seems like it. The Hartford-New Haven metropolitan area is one of the oldest in the country—and by our measure, one of the smartest. The area is home to the United States’ oldest continuously publishing newspaper (the Courant), the oldest public art museum (the Wadsworth Atheneum), and the third-oldest institution of higher education on the continent (Yale).
Metro Area Population: 3,344,813
Daily Beast IQ Score: 151
Gray skies and wet weather tend to lead to indoor pursuits: While the Seattle area has relatively few educational institutions, this city devours nonfiction at a rate near the very top nationally. “It’s dark a lot of the time out of the year here, it’s rainy a lot of the time out of the year here, so book reading is taken pretty seriously,” says Alex Fryer, a spokesman for Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.
Metro Area Population: 5,358,130
Daily Beast IQ Score: 151
With an egghead-in-chief occupying the biggest house in town, the nation’s capital seems to be enjoying an intellectual renaissance. The Washington, D.C. area scored extremely high in the educational categories—bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees per capita—helping to reinforce its reputation as a destination for smart young college grads. Then again, the area’s relatively low voter-participation score doesn’t say much for what government workers think of their employers.
Metro Area Population: 2,207,462
Daily Beast IQ Score: 143
Civic participation was the cornerstone of Portland’s top 10 showing on this list. Portland residents also buy a lot of books. That’s no surprise considering the area’s impressive literary tradition, which has included graphic journalist Joe Sacco, novelist Chuck Palahniuk, and the famous Powell’s bookstore.
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Metro Area Population: 2,667,117
Daily Beast IQ Score: 135
Fans of The Wire may be surprised to find Baltimore, Maryland—aka Bodymore, Murdaland—so high up on this list. “We are very blessed to have wonderful schools [and] universities,” says Sheila Dixon, Baltimore’s first female mayor, “but ultimately it is the engaged, educated, and active citizenry in the City of Baltimore that deserves the recognition.”
Greg Pease / Getty Images
Metro Area Population: 5,838,471
Daily Beast IQ Score: 130
Oscar Wilde once called Philadelphia, “dreadfully provincial.” Not anymore. From education to civic participation to reading habits, Philly, home to the University of Pennsylvania, scored well across the board.
Metro Area Population: 1,650,602
Daily Beast IQ Score: 129
Austin is both Texas’ capital and academic hub—a formula, as we’ve seen, for intellectual success. By far the smartest city in Texas, by our measure, it only fell short in one ironic area: political engagement.
Jack Plunkett / AP Photo
Metro Area Population: 19,006,798
Daily Beast IQ Score: 128
There’s a saying that applies to New York more than most other metropolitan areas: Go big or don’t go at all. When the Yankees fail to win the World Series, the entire season is a bust. A book isn’t really a book unless it makes The New York Times' bestseller list. So falling way down to No. 13 may be a bit tough for New Yorkers to swallow. But the per capita figures, given the huge population, remain very impressive. Graduate degrees? Fuggedaboudit. Top 10 percent.
Metro Area Population: 1,115,692
Daily Beast IQ Score: 127
With exceptionally high scores in book sales and postsecondary educational institutions, SLC slides in only one point below New York—and it doesn’t even have a Major League Baseball team. Ralph Becker, mayor of Salt Lake City, chalks up his city’s ranking to “innovative local businesses and a unique outdoor lifestyle.” “Unique outdoor lifestyle” is apparently code for 62 inches of snow a year, which seems to attract active minds.
Metro Area Population: 1,549,308
Daily Beast IQ Score: 120
The Milwaukee area is renowned more for its breweries than its smarts. Rounding out the top 15 on our list may undermine that stereotype. Milwaukee did well in the universities per capita category and was also above average for voter participation.
Metropolitan area population: 1,701,799
Daily Beast IQ Score: 119
Charlotte, home of Bank of America and Wachovia, may be taking a recessionary licking, but its above-average citizenry positions it to bounce back. Charlotte scored high in bachelor’s degrees per capita, but its strongest showing was in the voter-participation category. A commitment to civic duty shouldn’t come as a surprise from a patriotic city like Charlotte. British Revolutionary War General Charles Cornwallis was so put off by Charlotte’s nationalistic fervor that he called the city “a hornet’s nest” and unwittingly became the only 18th-century military figure to name an NBA franchise.
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Metropolitan area population: 2,002,047
Daily Beast IQ Score: 116
The Kansas City area—known to the rest of America for its jazz scene, top-notch barbeque, a once-huge organized crime presence, and its terrible sports teams—winds up at No. 17 on the strength of its postsecondary institutions and degrees per capita scores. No word as to whether those degrees are in barbeque sauce science.
Metropolitan area population: 1,773,120
Daily Beast IQ Score: 116
The capital and academic hub of Ohio was surprisingly poorly read, but made up for it with above-average showings in the other parameters we studied.
Kiichiro Sato / AP Photo
Metro Area Population: 1,550,733
Daily Beast IQ Score: 113
“Nashville is known as Music City, which is a huge draw for smart, talented people,” says Mayor Karl Dean. A creative hub, Nashville scored an above-average IQ due in part to a relatively high concentration of universities, including a couple of big ones, Vanderbilt University and Tennessee State University.
John Russell / AP Photo
Metro Area Population: 3,001,72
Daily Beast IQ Score: 112
“America’s Finest City,” as it bills itself, tied for the top 20 with an impressive score in graduate degrees per capita and above-average ratings everywhere else except postsecondary degree-granting institutions per capita. Sea World, despite Shamu, doesn’t count as an institution of higher education.
Metro Area Population:1,715,459
Daily Beast IQ Score: 112
Hundreds of thousands of IndyCar fans flock to Indianapolis every year to watch fast cars go around a paved oval during the Indianapolis 500. The rest of the year, Indianapolis is known as the headquarters of prominent insurance and pharmaceutical companies, including American United Life and Eli Lilly. The Indianapolis area ranked average or just below average in most of our parameters, but was in the top quarter for bachelor’s degrees per capita.
Darron Cummings / AP Photo
Metro Area Population: 1,596,611
Daily Beast IQ Score: 110
Providence is home to half of Rhode Island’s institutions of higher education, including Brown, and postsecondary students comprise one-quarter of the city’s population. So it’s no wonder that the Renaissance City’s top 5 percent score in postsecondary institutions places it in the top half of our list, despite otherwise unexceptional numbers.
Metro Area Population: 5,376,285
Daily Beast IQ Score: 109
Atlanta scored in the bottom quarter in universities per capita, yet it seems to attract a relatively high number of educated people. The area scored in the top quarter for bachelor’s degrees per capita and was slightly ahead of the pack for graduate degrees per capita.
Metro Area Population: 2,816,710
Daily Beast IQ Score: 108
The city that symbolizes the middle of America, its Gateway Arch a stepping off point to the West, St. Louis appropriately took the middle ground for nearly all our parameters and was among the bottom 40 percent for nonfiction book sales.
Metro Area Population: 9,569,624
Daily Beast IQ Score: 108
Oh, Chicago. It just isn’t your month, is it? First, Chicago has to suffer the geopolitical equivalent of getting picked last in gym class with its failed bid for the Olympics, and now it gets a big fat C+ from The Daily Beast. Chicago’s average-across-the-board scores earned it a 108, turning the Second City into the tied-with-St. Louis-for-24th city, despite the vaunted intelligence of its former residents, the Obamas.
Scott Olson / Getty Images
Metropolitan area population: 1,034,090
Daily Beast IQ Score: 106
Rochester may be the birthplace of pioneering companies like Xerox, Eastman Kodak, and Bausch & Lomb, but what’s it done lately? Middling scores in all categories land the Flour City—once the largest wheat-processing town in the U.S.—just about in the middle of our rankings, with an IQ a hair above 100. Rochester’s deputy mayor, Patricia K. Malgieri, says her city’s score would jump if the metric were changed. “We are consistently in the top 10 in things like patents per capita as a region,” she says, “so we are noted for being a highly innovative community, particularly when it comes to science and technology.”
Metro Area Population: 2,351,192
Daily Beast IQ Score: 100
Today, the Steel City is known more for strong job growth in the technology and health-care sectors and its vibrant cultural scene than for molding molten metal, but it scored surprisingly low—in the bottom quarter—for nonfiction book sales. “A lot of people work in academia and either use academic libraries or buy fewer but denser nonfiction books,” explains Madelaine Dusseau, founder of Pittsburgh’s Black Swan Book Club. “Quality over quantity may skew the results of the per capita consumption of nonfiction.”
AP Photo
Metropolitan area population: 12,872,808
Daily Beast IQ Score: 100
Los Angeles is the first of three cities that tied for an unquestionably average Daily Beast IQ score of 100. There’s no denying that the countless films and books set in Los Angeles have given the area a lasting worldwide cultural influence. Who could forget private detective Philip Marlowe, the dystopian Los Angeles investigator portrayed in Blade Runner, and, of course, The Dude? Los Angeles was in the top quarter for nonfiction book sales, but was below the norm for voter turnout and universities per capita, and among the middle in higher-education degrees per capita.
Michael Heiman / Getty Images
Metropolitan area population: 1,225,626
Daily Beast IQ Score: 100
The site of Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech and later the capital of the Confederacy, Richmond falls squarely in the middle of our survey.
Metro Area Population: 1,236,407
Daily Beast IQ Score: 99
Best known for office furniture and cereal (both Kellogg's and Post were founded in Battle Creek), the only anomaly in the Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek score seems to be the unusually high voter-participation mark.
David M. Converse
Metro Area Population: 2,088,291
Daily Beast IQ Score: 97
Cleveland’s industrial roots have evaporated, and so has its population. The metropolitan area has lost more than 150,000 people in the last decade, according to recent estimates. Brain drain may be an issue as Cleveland struggles to get back on a solid economic footing, but Case Western Reserve University remains an intellectual draw.
Metro Area Population: 1,801,376
Daily Beast IQ Score: 97
Despite mediocre scores and a sub-100 Daily Beast IQ, the West Palm Beach-Fort Pierce-Vero Beach metro area is the smartest in Florida. Which is exactly as dubious an honor as it sounds.
Paul Giamou
Metro Area Population: 2,733,761
Daily Beast IQ Score: 87
The Tampa-St. Pete area is down 10 points compared to Cleveland and its Florida brethren in the West Palm Beach area. Tampa was in the middle 20 percent for nonfiction book sales, voter participation, and universities per capita. It scored even lower for bachelor’s and graduate degrees per capita.
Metro Area Population: 1,012,018
Daily Beast IQ Score: 86
Tucson can at least console itself with these bragging rights: It ranks higher than Phoenix. That’s not saying much, though—the city, home to the University of Arizona, scores low (25th percentile) in both bachelor’s degrees and post-secondary degree-granting institutions. Speaking in Tucson’s defense, Paul Allvin, a spokesman for the university, points toward the Festival of Books (“a national phenomenon among authors”) and the fact that college and grad students comprise 10 percent of the population. One Tucson wag, informed of his city’s mediocre finish, responded with haiku: Dentists and toothless/the Old Pueblo contradicts/with books and bullets.
Metro Area Population: 1,206,142
Daily Beast IQ Score: 84
Oklahoma City stole away the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics last season and renamed the team the Thunder. Maybe Seattle can take some solace knowing that the Thunder finished with a .280 winning percentage, and that Seattle throttled Oklahoma City in this ranking. While blessed with numerous universities per capita and low unemployment, Oklahoma lands in the bottom quarter in graduate degrees and voter-participation rate.
Metro Area Population: 2,109,832
Daily Beast IQ Score: 84
On paper, Sacramento has a lot going for it, intellectually. It’s the capital of California, a draw for the Golden State’s best and brightest. And it’s just 90 minutes east of the Bay Area, which almost topped this list. Yet Sacramento wound up with below-average scores for almost every one of our criteria.
Metro Area Population: 1,173,808
Daily Beast IQ Score: 83
North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad, consisting of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point, has always existed in the shadow of another trio just to its east—the nationally known Research Triangle of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. The Triad’s ranking here won’t change anything. The Research Triangle tops our list while the Triad ends up in the bottom half. with an IQ score of 83. Better luck when Wake Forest hosts UNC this season.
Metro Area Population: 1,313,228
Daily Beast IQ Score: 83
Jacksonville residents like to read, and they are civically engaged, but the higher-education scores—institutions, college graduates, advanced degrees—were subpar across the board.
Metro Area Population: 5,414,772
Daily Beast IQ Score: 78
Keep bronzing those tans, South Floridians. The Miami metropolitan area may be home to some of the most beautiful people in the world, but it scored in the bottom 10 percent for colleges per capita, and rated decidedly average for our other parameters. Earlier this year a new high school in North Miami announced it would be named for former basketball all-star Alonzo Mourning. A defendable choice, taking into account his local charity work. But consider that Janet Reno, the longtime Miami-Dade County district attorney and the first female attorney general of the United States, was passed over for the honor.
Metro Area Population: 4,425,110
Daily Beast IQ Score: 77
Need we pile on Detroit anymore? Motor City, home to one of America’s most iconic industries and some of its most beloved musicians, has seen more than its fair share of lean years lately—especially over the last 18 months. We don’t have much consolation. Detroit was particularly hurt by a bottom-quarter showing in bachelor’s degrees per capita—perhaps that’s one legacy of a manufacturing-based economy that can't be fixed quickly?
Metro Area Population: 1,658,292
Daily Beast IQ Score: 76
The Virginia area encompassing Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, and Hampton has a strong military presence, but that did not move the needle in any of our categories.
Metro Area Population: 1,117,608
Daily Beast IQ Score: 75
Birmingham, once called the “Pittsburgh of the South,” scores well south of the real Pittsburgh, with a poor showing in nonfiction book sales (bottom 15 percent) and bachelor’s degrees per capita (bottom 40 percent). One of the birthplaces of the civil-rights movement, Birmingham was once home to some of the 20th century’s smartest preachers and political activists; today, it seems to be severely lacking the same spark that made it one of biggest industrial cities in the country.
Metro Area Population 2,155,137
Daily Beast IQ Score: 72
Cincinnati can still hold its own with coastal cities in terms of size and wealth. Even though it is home to 10 Fortune 500 companies, including Procter & Gamble, which bring in a big stack of tax dollars every year, the area scored in the middle for bachelor’s and graduate degrees per capita. Book sales were lousy—bottom 10 percent, per capita.
Metro Area Population: 1,124,309
Daily Beast IQ Score: 70
Willis McGahee, former running back for the Bills, said that arriving in Buffalo is like, “hitting a brick wall. You can’t go out. You can’t do nothing. There’s an Applebee’s, a T.G.I. Friday’s, and they just got a Dave & Buster’s.” Perhaps, the city should add bookstores: Its per capita nonfiction buying ranked near the bottom, and the rate of college graduates was in the bottom 10 percent.
Metro Area Population: 1,134,029
Daily Beast IQ Score: 68
From food to music to literature, New Orleans’ cultural impact on America has been massive: It's done a lot of good for itself, and for the country. New Orleans also knows about the blues, and the sad truth for this hard-hit area is that while it’s in the top quarter in universities, per capita, it's also in the bottom 10 percent for higher-education degrees per capita. Changing that dynamic would move a long way toward helping the Big Easy recover.
Metro Area Population: 5,728,143
Daily Beast IQ Score: 66
Houston hosts many of the world’s largest energy corporations and NASA, but the number of postsecondary institutions for a city this size is abysmal.
Metro Area Population: 3,089,131
Daily Beast IQ Score: 66
Mickey Mouse results for the Orlando area, which includes Daytona Beach and Melbourne. The percentage of college-educated people here is disproportionately low.
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Metro Area Population: 6,300,006
Daily Beast IQ Score: 64
Folks in Dallas-Fort Worth, according to the data, are less interested than most in reading and voting and, like Houston, the number of higher academic institutions per capita is paltry. No excuses, given the metro area is the size of Rhode Island and Connecticut combined.
Metro Area Population: 4,281,899
Daily Beast IQ Score: 63
Fast-growing Phoenix, an oasis in what was once a desert, escaped the dubious distinction of landing in the bottom five of our list by gaining relatively respectable scores in nonfiction book sales and graduate degrees per capita. Considering the mammoth Arizona State University, however, one might have expected Phoenix to score higher than the 15th percentile for bachelor’s degrees per capita.
Metro Area Population: 1,586,995
Daily Beast IQ Score: 57
The capital of Pennsylvania, encompassing nearby York, Lancaster, and Lebanon ranks near the absolute bottom in new nonfiction book sales. Whom to blame? The Amish. Sort of. “I think its origins are in the Amish and Mennonite culture, but there is a longstanding culture of thriftiness and re-use,” says Eric Papenfuse, owner and operator of the Midtown Scholar, Harrisburg’s largest independent bookstore. “There’s a very large used-book trade. There’s also an incredibly strong library system in central Pennsylvania. Each town around here has its own library.” There was a huge disparity in local opportunity (top 5 percent for universities per capita) and the education of the local population (bottom 10 percent).
Metro Area Population: 1,285,732
Daily Beast IQ Score: 48
Music rules in Memphis, from Elvis to Al Green, but not many people buy books. The city finished in the bottom 10 percent (compared with another Tennessee music city, Nashville, which finished in the top half). Low college graduation rates, too.
Metro Area Population: 2,816,710
Daily Beast IQ Score: 46
Louisville performed poorly on almost all measures: Book sales and college-degree rates were especially bad.
Metro Area Population: 2,031,445
Daily Beast IQ Score: 26
San Antonio is the second largest city in Texas, but in terms of smarts, by our measure, it rates last in Texas.
Metro Area Population: 1,865,746
Daily Beast IQ Score: 11
A city that prides itself on sin performs predictably for each of our intellectual-based criteria.
Metro Area Population: 1,335,429
Daily Beast IQ Score: 3
The race to the bottom wasn’t even close. The largest city in California’s San Joaquin breadbasket, Fresno, had deficiencies across the board. College education (less than 20 percent of the local population have four-year degrees), graduate studies, academic institutions (not much besides Fresno State), book purchases, voter engagement—it ranked in the worst 5 percent in almost all of our categories. Problems with gangs and crystal meth tend to deter the best and brightest.
