Top 25 US City With The Most Educated Young People
If you want to be around the epicenter of smart, young people, move to Boston.
The City on a Hill has more educated people between the ages 18 and 34 years old than any other city in the U.S. based on an analysis of the latest census numbers done by The Business Journals.
According to the Census Bureau, 39.2 percent of people between 18 and 34 hold a bachelor’s degree in Boston.
With Boston College, Boston University, Emerson, and nearby Harvard, it’s easy to understand how Boston ranked on top.
About 11.9 million people in the 100 cities surveyed between the ages of 18 and 34 had four-year degrees, which equates to about 24.9 percent. That number does not include the people in that age bracket still working toward earning their degrees.
Washington, D.C. ranked second, with 37.2 percent of people holding bachelor’s degrees.
Rounding out the top five are San Francisco, San Jose, and Madison, WI. New York ranks No. 6 with 33.12 percent of people holding bachelor’s degrees.
Bakersfield-Delano, Calif. ranked last among the 100 cities in the data set with only 9.09 percent of people having earned four-year degrees.
Metro areaPopulation (18-34, 2010)Bachelor’s degree or higherBachelor’s degree or higher %
RankBoston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH1,095,385428,98139.16%1Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV1,383,193514,83737.22%2San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA1,036,952369,04435.59%3San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA441,451155,49135.22%4Madison, WI157,00754,65834.81%5New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA4,478,4861,483,14133.12%6Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI778,001250,63432.22%7Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT178,90356,45131.55%8Raleigh-Cary, NC272,21583,95930.84%9Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA135,49841,73530.80%10Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO613,659188,26530.68%11Pittsburgh, PA490,531146,21429.81%12Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI2,258,082669,89629.67%13New Haven-Milford, CT194,47556,01928.81%14Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY201,48358,01228.79%15Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA847,082242,43228.62%16Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX494,699139,15228.13%17Baltimore-Towson, MD633,436178,16928.13%18Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD1,371,923382,98127.92%19Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY248,59469,07527.79%20Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT258,94371,09927.46%21Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA209,35157,14427.30%22Columbus, OH461,261125,03227.11%23Kansas City, MO-KS453,345121,76426.86%24St. Louis, MO-IL630,059163,45525.94%25
