WalletHub has published a list of the 150 most educated cities in the U.S., and three California metros have made the top 25.
WalletHub compared the 150 largest metropolitan statistical areas for these rankings. Factors included educational attainment (share of adults with a high school diploma, bachelor’s degree or higher) and public school and university quality. The second category took into account enrollment numbers, summer learning opportunities and racial equity.
Ann Arbor, Michigan, was named the most educated city in the U.S. San Jose, California, was runner-up, followed by Washington, D.C., Madison, Wisconsin and San Francisco.
These are the 5 most educated metros in California (national rankings in parenthesis), according to WalletHub:
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (#2)
- San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley (#5)
- San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad (#22)
- Santa Rosa-Petaluma (#34)
- Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom (#49)
Visalia, Bakersfield and Modesto are among the least educated cities, ranking #150, #147 and #146 respectively. The study also found that three California cities — Bakersfield, Salinas, and Visalia — have the lowest percentage of high school diploma holders.
See the full rankings here.
List and data were compiled by WalletHub and do not reflect statistics on all cities.