Whether you are in school, in the workforce, or have children in school, putting yourself in the best environment for success often means surrounding yourself with the right peers and social influences. Highly educated people tend to migrate to certain areas of the country to pursue careers in specific industries, provide the best education to their children, enjoy cultural diversity and high quality of life. If you are looking for a city full of intellect and opportunity, here is a list of cities to move to.
Dwellics analyzed data on more than 60,000 U.S. cities, towns and neighborhoods within large metro areas to compile a list of the Top 100 Most Educated Cities in America using ranking factors which included datasets on both children and adults. For childhood education, data included math, reading, and language-arts proficiency, number of spelling bee Olympics contest winners, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) competition winners, and the number of top-rated “blue ribbon” schools in each city. For adults, data included the percentage of the population with a bachelor's degree or higher or a STEM degree. We combined the datasets with equal weight to determine the rankings.
Rankings are based on data on the average and maximum values of math proficiency and reading and language-arts proficiency among area schools, the number of top-rated “blue ribbon” schools, and the number of winners of the Spelling Bee Olympiad and other STEM and non-STEM competitions. To assess the level of education in each locale among the adult population, Dwellics analyzed data on the percentage of residents with a bachelor's degree or higher and the percentage of citizens with a STEM degree with equal weight. Then we combined the data on school education and educational attainment in the city with equal weighting to obtain a final ranking. It’s important to note this list does not consider cost of living, some of the places on this list are quite expensive.
Other factors included in each city’s listing are average rent and mortgage prices; taxes; median income; weather and air quality; public safety (propensity for natural disasters); infrastructure (public transportation, traffic, and internet speeds); community demographics like population size, age, racial and religious diversity, political affiliation, and industry and employment data that indicates the types of jobs available in each individual city. Dwellics also posts reviews of each city submitted by users who provide pros and cons of living in each place in their own words.
For even more detailed analysis, use our Calculator to directly compare two cities side by side.
