Which city ranks as the smartest in America?

[Ivan Seeking]

Our own little Corvallis, Oregon, home of OSU [Integral's and my alma mater], made number five!

Which cities house America's smartest? Forbes.com has taken a list of some 300 metro areas and broken the numbers down to illustrate which cities have the most brains. Using Sperling's BestPlaces, we obtained the most recent percentages, through 2007, on educational attainment--then, whether large or small, we ranked them based on the percentage of inhabitants 25 and over with at least a bachelor's degree. We also found the percentage of these residents with a Ph.D, a professional degree and that have graduated high school. Although these numbers weren't factored into our ranking, they're all laid out in America's 25 Smartest Cities. [continued]

http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/02/07/americas-smartest-cities-oped-cx_apa_0207smartest_slide.html

 

[Cyrus]

You'll never win the title of STD capital of the world, GO BALTIMORE!

 

[Moonbear]

Heh, not too surprising. Lots of college towns...of course the people there are educated, they're all either students or employed by the university. And, of course, if some businesses open up around the university to retain some of the graduates for other employment, you can really boost those numbers.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Yes, but in our case it's the water.

 

[binzing]

Ivan, so you live in Corvallis, I guessed that. I go there every summer, got a lot of family in the area. Ever heard of the Goetzingers?

 

[Evo]

Wow, the University of Kansas is #7.

 

[Cyrus]

Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, Md.

We made number two, hell yeah!

And DC is number 13! Double points!

 

[binzing]

You mentioned water Ivan, you mean the rain, or the Willamete?

 

[Moonbear]

You mentioned water Ivan, you mean the rain, or the Willamete?

The tap.

 

[OmCheeto]

Heh, not too surprising. Lots of college towns...of course the people there are educated, they're all either students or employed by the university. And, of course, if some businesses open up around the university to retain some of the graduates for other employment, you can really boost those numbers.

I was surprised to see three metro's with over a million make the top ten list.
That's like way too many smart people in one place.
Kind of gives me hope for humanity.

 

[binzing]

Well, maybe that accounts for some of my smarts, my dad grew up there. The Willamete used to be pretty nasty, and I assume that's where Curvallis' water is drawn from.

 

[Moonbear]

I was surprised to see three metro's with over a million make the top ten list.
That's like way too many smart people in one place.
Kind of gives me hope for humanity.

Yeah, those were more surprising to me, actually. I figured there'd be a lot more less-educated people in those areas to drop their rankings. Maybe it's the cost of living...the less educated people have been forced out because they can't afford to live there?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

binzing, I don't live in Corvallis but I did finish school there... spent many many hours at The Donut Shop across the street from the Physics and Chem schools.

As for my current location, it's a mystery.

 

[Astronuc]

Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, Md.

We made number two, hell yeah!

And DC is number 13! Double points!

How can DC with 13 with that black hole of negative intelligence in the WH?

 

[Moonbear]

As for my current location, it's a mystery.

Apparently, even for those with directions to get there. Just ask Integral.

 

[binzing]

Heh, maybe we'll meet and never know it. Do you ever check out the Kinetic Sculpture Race or for that matter all of da Vinci days? It's really cool.

 

[quantumdude]

I'm surprised not to see Boston. They've got MIT, Harvard, BC, BU, and Wellesley.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Heh, maybe we'll meet and never know it. Do you ever check out the Kinetic Sculpture Race or for that matter all of da Vinci days? It's really cool.

Heh, you got my weak spot here. I once had what was called the most successful exhibit ever seen at da Vinci days. It was the public debut of an energy education concept that later won a grant from the NEH. The next generation device was or still is operating at OMSI. At last count about five million people had participated.

It was my baby.

 

[RetardedBastard]

I'm surprised not to see Boston. They've got MIT, Harvard, BC, BU, and Wellesley.

Hmm, this survey smells fishy...

Wow, the University of Kansas is #7.

Now it's really starting to reek.

Evo, it's only surprising because, well, you know how modest Kansans are... we hate to show off our intelligence (especially during school board meetings in Topeka!) ;)

 

[scott_alexsk]

I used to live in #12 (Fort Collins) and now I live in #13. That's just a little messed up.

-scott

 

[binzing]

Yeah, the da Vinci days are really cool. My dad, uncle, and I have been scheming on a kinetic sculpture for the past few years. If we do eventually, maybe I'll put a PF logo on it. OMSI is one of the best museums I've ever been to, and I go nearly every summer becuase my 7 year old cousin loves it so much. Also, I'm seriously considering OSU for college.

 

[Gokul43201]

I'm surprised to see Ann Arbor! Yeah, it's supposed to be a "college" town, but who knew folks actually graduated there?!

 

[binzing]

Kansas is the most boring state to drive through! Sorry to all residents, but it is. Totally flat, and the time I went through, covered in snow. How do you people survive without seeing mountains?

 

[Integral]

Corvallis tap water comes of the side of Marys Peak or straight out of the Willamette depending on the time of year. During the summer it is pretty rank. Some of the worst water in Oregon, Albany gets their water out of the South Santiam, it is quite good, I was surprised.

Another factor for the number of degreed residents in Corvallis in HP. There are a lot of HP engineers living in the area.


Yeah, Ivan lives off in the hills, he is not in a real bad area though, it only takes 2 local housewives to get a full set of teeth, 10 miles further into the hills and it is up to 4. (Tsu is going to smack me for that!)

 

[BobG]

Corvallis tap water comes of the side of Marys Peak or straight out of the Willamette depending on the time of year. During the summer it is pretty rank. Some of the worst water in Oregon, Albany gets their water out of the South Santiam, it is quite good, I was surprised.

Another factor for the number of degreed residents in Corvallis in HP. There are a lot of HP engineers living in the area.


Yeah, Ivan lives off in the hills, he is not in a real bad area though, it only takes 2 local housewives to get a full set of teeth, 10 miles further into the hills and it is up to 4. (Tsu is going to smack me for that!)

Ivan lives near a hockey rink?

If you lose a couple of teeth on the way to a gold medal I think it's a small price to pay

You can always get new teeth.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Corvallis also has very strict growth policies which help to limit the population. And it is not only a community of college professors and HP engineers, but it has recently become a bedroom community for medical doctors and other professionals who commute to Eugene, Salem, or even Portland.

Yep, where I live men are men and sheeps are scared. [Actually it looks like we invested very well. This is now considered a prime area where the rich people are buying ]

 

[chroot]

YES! The SF bay area is #9. Take that, Iowa City!

- Warren

 

[binzing]

Yeah one of my uncles grew up in Corvallis and went to OSU to become an electrical engineer. He now works for HP in Vancouver, WA. My godfather still lives in Corvallis and does technical writing for HP and other tech companies. I've been on the Willammete (knew I was misspelling it) in the middle of summer, actually paddling along with the kinetic sculptures. Whether or not I go to OSU I plan to live in Corvallis, either just for a while, or maybe buy the home place from my aunt eventually.

 

[BobG]

How did Seattle go from 52.7% college graduates to 35.9%?

CNN Money's most educated cities list (2006)

Personally, I trust CNN Money's research more than Forbes, especially since Colorado Springs makes the CNN Money list while Forbes inserts a bunch of tiny college towns with no industry .

Plus, CNN Money ranked Colorado Springs as the best big city to live in the United States.

 

[tribdog]

I was going to see where Phoenix ended up on the list, but couldn't figure out where the actual list was. Maybe that tells me we wouldn't be on the list anyway.

 

[RetardedBastard]

Kansas is the most boring state to drive through! Sorry to all residents, but it is. Totally flat, and the time I went through, covered in snow. How do you people survive without seeing mountains?

Sorry? Nah... we take that with pride... We are mathematically superior! See here:

http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200310/pancake-kansas.cfm"

"The scientists compared the two surfaces?Kansas and the pancake?using special geographic information software. Topographic elevation data for Kansas was taken from a digital scale model prepared by the United States Geological Survey.

The pancake was purchased from an International House of Pancakes. "The importance of this research dictated that we not be daunted by the 'No Food or Drink' sign posted in the microscopy room," write the authors.

How flat is Kansas, compared to a pancake? Fonstad, Pugatch, and Vogt explain that:
Mathematically, a value of 1.000 would indicate perfect, platonic flatness. The calculated flatness of the pancake transect is approximately 0.957, which is pretty flat, but far from perfectly flat.

After many hours of programming work, we were able to estimate that Kansas's flatness is approximately 0.9997. That degree of flatness might be described, mathematically, as "damn flat."

 

[BobG]

I was going to see where Phoenix ended up on the list, but couldn't figure out where the actual list was. Maybe that tells me we wouldn't be on the list anyway.

Maybe not, but Pheonix has about 5 Mary Coyle's ice cream parlors, don't they? That's better than making the "smartest cities" list.

Or, at least they did at one time. I used to make the ice cream at the original Mary Coyle's in Akron, OH. Bud Coyle and his wife, Mary, moved to Phoenix and sold the original store to a retired Army Colonel. Bud Coyle opened a new Mary Coyle's and had 5 of them in the mid to late 70's.

(Mary Coyle's history was one of the key parts of every employee's training, along with the correct answers to "Are you in my way?" and "Can I get a raise to at least minimum wage?" )

(Hint: The correct answers to the two questions were different from each other.)

 

[jhicks]

I'm surprised Gainesville (alma mater's city) made the list. Granted the university is very large, anyone not connected to the university educationally lives in poverty. It has one of the highest homeless populations in the country (there are actually tent cities). The "have not" population is extremely visible here.