Five MA Cities Ranked Among Most Educated In America: Report

MASSACHUSETTS — Between the prestigious universities and the award-winning hospitals, there's no surprise that Massachusetts is home to some of the most educated. This year, five Massachusetts cities were ranked among the most educated in the country.

According to a recent study from Wallethub, higher levels of education tend to lead to higher salaries. Once graduates earn more, the more tax dollars they contribute over time, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In turn, more educated people want to live somewhere they believe they'll get a better return on their educational investment.

People also tend to marry others of the same educational level, which means that cities that already have a large educated population may be more attractive to people with degrees.

The study also showed that more educated cities could soon see a shift in the near future because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it had on schooling. During the pandemic, standardized test scores experienced sizeable drops, and score gaps between low-poverty and high-poverty districts increased.

To determine where the most educated citizens are putting their degrees to work, WalletHub compared the 150 largest metropolitan statistical areas across 11 key metrics. The data set ranges from the share of adults aged 25 and older with a bachelor's degree or higher to the quality of the public-school system to the gender education gap.

The metrics include the share of adults aged 25 and older with:

• A high school diploma or higher
• At least some college experience or an associate's degree or higher
• A bachelor's degree or higher
• A graduate or professional degree

And the basis of the quality of education and attainment gap:

• Quality of public school system
• The average quality of universities
• Enrolled students in the top 1,015 universities per capita
• Number of summer learning opportunities per capita
• Racial education gap
• Gender education gap
• Education equality index score

Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest educational attainment and quality of education.

Overall, Ann Arbor, Michigan took the top spot as being the most educated city in America with a total score of 93.99, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California tied in second with an overall score of 82.03, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV were tied in third with a score of 81.78.

Boston-Cambridge-Newton all tied in sixth place with an overall score of 78.26.

Worcester and Springfield also received top marks, coming in at numbers 52 and 68, respectively.

Here's the list of the top 20 most educated cities:

1. Ann Arbor, MI - 93.99

2.San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA - 82.03

3. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV - 81.78

4. Madison, WI - 80.83

5. San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA - 80.77

6. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH - 78.26

7. Durham-Chapel Hill, NC - 78.06

8. Raleigh-Cary, NC - 77.08

9. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA - 75.34

10. Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX - 73.84

Check out the full list of WalletHub rankings here.