This MI College Town Is 'Most Educated' In U.S.: Ranking

MICHIGAN — Two Michigan college towns are among the most educated in the nation, according to WalletHub rankings.

The Ann Arbor area, which is home to the University of Michigan, earned the top spot in the ranking, while the Lansing-East Lansing metropolitan area is 30th.

To determine the ranking, the personal finance website compared the 150 largest U.S. metropolitan areas using 11 metrics to measure two key areas: "educational attainment" and "quality of education and attainment gap."

The website looked at the share of adults aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher, the quality of the public-school system and the racial education gap.

"Higher education doesn’t guarantee better financial opportunities in the future, but it certainly correlates with it," WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said. "The most educated cities provide good learning opportunities from childhood all the way through the graduate level."

Ann Arbor earned the No. 1 spot because nearly 96 percent of adults ages 25 and older have at least a high school diploma. Additionally, more than 58 percent have a bachelor’s degree and 31 percent have an advanced degree. Those percentages are among the highest rates in the country, WalletHub said.

The Lansing-East Lansing metropolitan area ranked 26th in educational attainment and 76th in quality of education and attainment gap.

Other Michigan metros that made the ranking include the Grand Rapids-Kentwood, metro Detroit and Flint.

The Grand Rapids area, which is home to Grand Rapids Community College and Grand Valley State University, earned the 69th spot. The metro Detroit area came in at No. 72. Some of the big colleges in the area include Wayne State University, University of Detroit Mercy and the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

The only other Michigan metro to make the list was the Flint area, which came in at No. 129. The biggest college in the area is the University of Michigan-Flint.

The full rankings can be found here.