Survey: Three CT Metro Areas Among Top 50 Most Educated in U.S.

In an analysis ranking America’s metropolitan areas to identify the most educated in the nation, one Connecticut region – the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk area – was the 10^th best in the nation, and two others earned spots in the top 50.   Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford was ranked number 26 and New Haven-Milford placed at number 44. The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metropolitan area also ranked fifth in the nation in the percentage of bachelor’s degree holders and the percentages of graduate or professional degree holders.  The regions with higher percentages in both categories are Ann Arbor, Washington D.C., and San Francisco, joined by San Jose for bachelor’s degrees and Durham-Chapel Hill, NC for graduate or professional degrees.

Topping the overall list of “Most Educated Cities,” in an analysis from the financial services website WalletHub, were Ann Arbor, Washington DC, San Jose, Durham-Chapel Hill, San Francisco-Oakland, Madison, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Austin, and Seattle-Tacoma.  The analysis was developed by the financial services website WalletHub.

On a substantially less positive note, the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metropolitan area had the largest racial education gap in the nation, of 140 metropolitan regions included in the analysis.

Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, GreatSchools.org, Education Cities.org, Yelp and WalletHub research.  A total of 11 relevant metrics were used, in the areas of Educational Attainment, Quality of Education and Attainment Gap.

In another recent survey, using different methodology, West Hartford was declared the "most educated city" in Connecticut by the financial insurance website Insurify.  The website noted that the  U.S. Census Bureau recently reported that for the first time in history, over one-third of American adults now have at least a Bachelor’s degree and high school completion rates are at an all-time peak.

To determine the most educated community in each U.S. state, Insurify analyzed over 1.4 million completed auto insurance applications in which individuals were asked about their city of residence and highest level of education. Using a proprietary scoring algorithm, Insurify's analysts calculated a score for each applicant based on educational achievement, and, for current high school students, likelihood of advancement to college based on reported GPA. The resulting data set was analyzed to determine the average scores for each city across all age ranges, and a composite score was created for each city.

West Hartford led the list in Connecticut.  In Massachusetts it was Cambridge; in Rhode Island, Providence led the way.