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Strollerderby
10 Smartest Cities in the U.S.
Bike paths and good schools are one thing. But the sheer smartness of a kid’s surroundings is another. Are you raising your kid in a city of highly educated, non-fiction book reading, voting citizens?
The Daily Beast has ranked the 55 U.S. cities with a population of more than 1 million from smartest to, uh, not so much. What makes for a brainy population? According to the Daily Beast geniuses, college degrees, advanced college degrees, lots of universities and buying and reading non-fiction. Regarding that last bit, I beg you to check out the New York Times list of non-fiction bestsellers. Donating royalties to Glen Beck, Michelle Malkin and Bill O’Reilly doesn’t strike me as a sign of intelligent life.
I’ll play along anyway. Here are the smartest:
1. Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
2. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose
3. Boston
4. Minneapolis-St. Paul (OMG, they’re THE NICEST people too … and tall! If you’ve ever been, you’ll know what I mean)
5. Denver
6. Hartford-New Haven, Connecticut
7. Seattle-Tacoma tied with Washington, D.C.
9. Portland (yes, yes, we get it, Portland, you’re great)
10. Baltimore
Out of loyalty to my family, I’m mentioning #11 — Philadelphia.
Now, the bottom 10 … here goes …
47. Orlando tied with Houston
48. Dallas-Fort Worth
49. Phoenix (hey, Sen. McCain!)
50. Harrisburg, Pa. (the Daily Beast blames the Amish for not buying enough non-fiction books)
51. Memphis
52. Louisville, Kentucky
53. San Antonio, Texas
54. Las Vegas (baby!)
55. Fresno, Calif.
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Photo: Daily Beast
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0 Comments
[...] 10 Smartest Cities in the U.S. [...]
Michelle Obama Action Figure — in 3 Amazing Looks! | Strollerderby commented on Oct 12 09 at 11:31 am[...] that there’s not a ton of overlap between the 10 smartest cities and the 10 best to raise children. Nothing like nurturing the next generation among a bunch of [...]
10 Best and Worst Cities for Raising Kids | Strollerderby commented on Oct 21 09 at 2:30 pmPlumbLucky commented on Oct 07 09 at 9:56 amAt least Detroit wasn’t in the bottom ten…and I agree, the lack of higher education in these parts is one side effect of the now-nearly-gone manufacturing base that isn’t quickly remedied!
NoVa Mommy commented on Oct 07 09 at 11:47 amRaised in 50 but moved to 7! Movin’ on up…
Barb commented on Oct 07 09 at 2:43 pmAw, yeah… glad I call Raleigh home!
Also from philly commented on Oct 08 09 at 12:15 pmThanks for including Philly– I was looking! And plus being home to the world chapions of baseball has got to make us smarter right???
frances commented on Oct 16 09 at 8:39 pmMeh, sometimes reading good fiction can be better than reading bad non-fiction, a la Glen Beck.
Peter Wolfe commented on Mar 08 10 at 2:56 amCommentsThis list is really telling about our country. Look in the south where I am in school people can’t think in new terms or how things affefct them and their outside world. They are exteremely traditionalistic and basicallly a theacratic form of a society. I’m not surprised with this list and this is the closest list that I have seen yet.
Jack commented on Jun 07 10 at 3:38 pmRaleigh is really a pretty boring town (I should know, I live there), but hey, at least we’re smart… apparently? lol :)
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