Bay Area Home To Most Educated People In America
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Let the smart-shaming begin.
They've been called elitist snobs, nerds and brainiacs -- but the fact is, folks in the Bay Area are among the brightest, most well-educated people in the country.
On the 2016 list of the Most and Least Educated Cities, San Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Oakland and Hayward were among the top ten creme de la creme.
The financial analysts at WalletHub compared 150 of America's largest metropolitan areas, grading them on nine key metrics. Out of a possible 100, cities earned points for the number of people with high school, college, and post-graduate degrees. They also earned points for the quality of schools in the area, taking into consideration enrollment numbers, along with racial and gender parity.
San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara ranked third overall in the country. This region, known as the home of the Silicon Valley, also scored highest for "University Quality." It ranked third for the highest number of Bachelor's degree holders, and fourth for the highest number of graduate degrees.
To the north, San Francisco, Oakland and Hayward came in at number seven on the list. The area is home to UC Berkeley, San Francisco State and several other private and public colleges and ranks fifth in the country for having a high concentration of Bachelor's degree holders.
"They may not always be the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, but the college-educated third of Americans often have a leg up on their non-degree-holding peers," wrote the researchers. More education translates to better jobs and bigger paychecks.
Not only does education generate success on personal level, educated people are a boon to their communities. According to the Economic Policy Institute, a better-educated workforce attracts stronger, better-paying employers, and the higher wages ultimately generate more tax dollars over time. That translates to better roads and infrastructure, and better schools that produce even more well-educated people.
While Northern California cities earned high marks, the report card for California's Central Valley was not good. Fresno, Modesto, Bakersfield and Visalia were among the bottom five on WalletHub's list, putting them into the 'least-educated' range.
As for the city that earned the top spot on the the list of America's most educated cities, the prize goes to Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan.
Here's the entire list:
1 Ann Arbor, MI
2 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
3 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
4 Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
5 Madison, WI
6 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
7 San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA
8 Provo-Orem, UT
9 Austin-Round Rock, TX
10 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
11 Tallahassee, FL
12 Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT
13 Trenton, NJ
14 Raleigh, NC
15 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
16 Colorado Springs, CO
17 Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO
18 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
19 Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY
20 Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT
21 San Diego-Carlsbad, CA
22 Portland-South Portland, ME
23 Eugene, OR
24 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
25 Lansing-East Lansing, MI
26 New Haven-Milford, CT
27 Huntsville, AL
28 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA2
29 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI
30 Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, CA
31 Honolulu, HI
32 Salt Lake City, UT
33 St. Louis, MO-IL
34 Anchorage, AK
35 Albuquerque, NM
36 Columbus, OH8
37 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
38 Tucson, AZ
39 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC
40 Rochester, NY
41 Kansas City, MO-KS
42 Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA
43 Pittsburgh, PA
44 Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
45 Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
46 Worcester, MA-CT
47 Lexington-Fayette, KY
48 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
49 Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY
50 Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA
51 Manchester-Nashua, NH
52 Santa Rosa, CA
53 Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA
54 Syracuse, NY
55 Columbia, SC
56 Richmond, VA
57 Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
58 Reno, NV
59 Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA
60 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
61 Asheville, NC
62 Charleston-North Charleston, SC
63 Boise City, ID
64 Cleveland-Elyria, OH
65 Ogden-Clearfield, UT
66 Oklahoma City, OK
67 Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN
68 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA
69 Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL
70 Akron, OH
71 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
72 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC
73 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL
74 Savannah, GA
75 Dayton, OH
76 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX
77 Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI
78 North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL
79 Birmingham-Hoover, AL
80 Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, FL
81 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
82 Providence-Warwick, RI-MA
83 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL
84 Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO
85 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
86 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
87 Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ
88 New Orleans-Metairie, LA
89 Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN
90 Jackson, MS
91 Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR
92 Toledo, OH
93 Jacksonville, FL
94 Springfield, MO
95 Peoria, IL
96 Springfield, MA
97 Tulsa, OK
98 Winston-Salem, NC
99 Wichita, KS
100 Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin, SC
101 Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
102 Vallejo-Fairfield, CA
103 Greensboro-High Point, NC
104 Baton Rouge, LA
105 Fayetteville, NC
106 Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL
107 Fort Wayne, IN
108 Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL
109 Montgomery, AL
110 San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX
111 Knoxville, TN
112 Killeen-Temple, TX
113 Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL
114 Memphis, TN-MS-AR
115 Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC
116 Salem, OR
117 Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL
118 Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, MS
119 Port St. Lucie, FL
120 Flint, MI
121 Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC
122 Salisbury, MD-DE
123 Chattanooga, TN-GA
124 Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV
125 York-Hanover, PA
126 Scranton--Wilkes-Barre--Hazleton, PA
127 Shreveport-Bossier City, LA
128 Canton-Massillon, OH
129 Mobile, AL
130 Rockford, IL
131 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
132 Lancaster, PA
133 Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA
134 Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH
135 Corpus Christi, TX
136 Reading, PA
137 Stockton-Lodi, CA
138 Ocala, FL
139 El Paso, TX
140 Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL
141 Salinas, CA
142 Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX
143 Lafayette, LA
144 Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC
145 Fresno, CA
146 Modesto, CA
147 Bakersfield, CA
148 Visalia-Porterville, CA
149 Brownsville-Harlingen, TX
150 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
