Ann Arbor tops small communities in brainpower
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Ann Arbor, Mich., is widely known as the site of the Big House. But its mental prowess deserves equal billing.
The University of Michigan is located in Ann Arbor, about 40 miles west of Detroit. UM’s football team plays in America’s largest football stadium (107,500 seats), commonly known as the Big House.
The university also contributes to Ann Arbor’s No. 1 brainpower rating among the nation’s 223 small communities. The category covers all places that have 50,000 to 100,000 residents who were 25 or older as of 2000.
College towns dominate the rankings of small communities. The four runners-up are Newton, Mass., home of Boston College; Boulder, Colo., University of Colorado; Berkeley, Calif., University of California; and Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University.
Below are the 10 small communities atop the brainpower rankings. Each is followed by its percentage of adults on the top two rungs (at least a bachelor’s degree) and bottom two rungs (didn’t go beyond high school) of the education ladder.
| Top 10 Brainiest Small Cities | ||
| Community | Bachelor's degree and beyond | Didn't go beyond high school |
| 1. Ann Arbor, Mich. | 69.2% | 13.3% |
| 2. Newton, Mass. | 68.0% | 17.6% |
| 3. Boulder, Colo. | 64.2% | 16.4% |
| 4. Berkeley, Calif. | 48.2% | 25.7% |
| 5. Cambridge, Mass. | 65.2% | 22.7% |
| 6. Naperville, Ill. | 60.7% | 15.3% |
| 7. Cary, N.C. | 60.7% | 15.6% |
| 8. Newport Beach, Calif. | 58.5% | 12.9% |
| 9. Columbia, Md. | 59.0% | 17.1% |
| 10. Irvine, Calif. | 58.4% | 15.1% |
