Top 10 Smartest Cities in America

The Daily Beast just released their first annual list of the Smartest Cities in America.  The rankings were based on cities that had at least 1 million people or more (this narrowed the search to 55 cities).  Then they looked at how many people had bachelor and graduate degrees, non-fiction book sales, the ratio of institutions of higher education, and the number of eligible voters.

AP Photo.

This is the list of the top 10 Smartest Cities in America:

# 1 Raleigh-Durham

# 2 San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose

# 3 Boston

# 4 Minneapolis, St. Paul

# 5 Denver

# 6 Hartford-Hew Haven

# 7 Seattle-Tacoma (tie)

# 8 Washington, DC (tie)

# 9 Portland, OR

# 10 Baltimore

With only 55 cities listed in the rankings, the bottom three cities were Antonio, Las Vegas and Fresno. 

Where does Salt Lake City rank?  # 14 - just one point below New York City.  Utah had high scores in book sales and postsecondary educational institutions.  Ralph Becker, Mayor told The Daily Beast that he chalks up the ranking to “innovative local businesses and unique outdoor lifestyle.”

To see all of the cities and the criteria for choosing the cities, click here.

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