America's Smartest Cities

Sin City might want to rename itself Not-So-Bright City
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 30, 2010 3:01 PM CDT
America's Smartest Cities
The Boston skyline is seen behind a fog bank and piles at a construction site across Boston Harbor, late Friday afternoon, Sept. 21, 2007, in Boston.   (AP Photo/Jaye Woodstock)

Sure, we usually take into account jobs, culture, climate, affordability, and a host of other data when moving to another place, but do you really want to be surrounded by a city full of blithering idiots? The Daily Beast crunches the numbers and comes up with the smartest cities in America:

  1. Boston: Being a Red Sox fan might not have seemed like the brightest move for decades, but ... Bean Town's residents moved up from last year's No. 3 spot. Daily Beast IQ: 176.68.
  2. Hartford-New Haven, Conn.: Hartford's 2 million souls have so far this year bought 2.2 million adult non-fiction books. DBIQ: 159.98
  3. San Francisco Bay Area: Some 26% of adults have bachelor's degrees, and 17% have graduate degrees. DBIQ: 156.69
  4. Raleigh-Durham, NC: Last year's No. 1 slipped down the chart a bit. DBIQ: 148.36
  5. Denver, Colo.: Holding steady at No. 5, the Mile High City's 2.5 million people chewed through 4 million works of adult non-fiction. DBIQ: 146.7.

    Click here     for the whole list, including the dumbest city.
(More literate cities stories.)

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