VOA News – What are the most and least educated cities in the United States?  Financial website WalletHub thinks it knows.

The company based its rankings of 150 metropolitan areas on eleven factors including percentage of people with or without a high school diploma or bachelor’s degree, the quality of local universities and colleges and the gaps in education between men and women or races.

“Higher levels of education tend to lead to higher salaries,” WalletHub wrote in a news release. “And the more that graduates earn, the more tax dollars they contribute over time, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In turn, educated people want to live somewhere where they will get a good return on their educational investment.”

However, they note people are motivated by different things.

“Not all highly educated people will flock to the same areas, though,” they wrote. “Some may prefer to have many people with similar education levels around them for socializing and career connections. Others may want to be a big fish in a little pond. Not every city will provide the same quality of life to those with higher education, either.”

 

Here are the top 10 educated cities:

Ann Arbor, Michigan (third year in a row)

Washington, DC Metropolitan Area

Silicon Valley, California

Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina

San Francisco-Oakland, California

Madison, Wisconsin

Boston Metropolitan Area

Austin, Texas

Seattle, Washington

Bridgeport Metropolitan Area, Connecticut

 

Here are the least educated cities:

Ocala, Florida

Fresno, California

Stockton-Lodi,  California

Salinas, California

Hickory, North Carolina

Modesto, California

Bakersfield, California

McAllen, Texas

Brownsville, Texas

Visalia-Porterville, California