What's the deal with Minneapolis getting all these kudos?
U.S. City With the Smartest People Is...
...Minneapolis, Minnesota.
That's the word from researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater who studied statistics from five categories and 13 different measurements of literacy to provide a ranking for 64 U.S. cities with a population of 250,000 or more. The literacy profile for each city included citizens' educational level, newspaper circulation rates, library resources, the number of periodicals published in that city, and the number of booksellers.
The 10 most literate U.S. cities are:
1. Minneapolis, Minnesota
2. Seattle, Washington
3. Denver, Colorado
4. Atlanta, Georgia
5. San Francisco, California
6. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Louisville, Kentucky
9. Portland, Oregon
10. Cincinnati, Ohio
Other fun facts:
Seattle, Washington boasts the most residents with higher education.
Miami, Florida has the greatest public school library support.
Seattle, Washington has the most bookstores, including major retail booksellers and booksellers of used and rare books.
Newark, New Jersey has the highest newspaper circulation.
Washington, D.C. has the greatest number of publishers of periodicals.
The 10 least literate U.S. cities are:
54. Los Angeles, California and Toledo, Ohio (tie)
56. Fresno, California
57. Jacksonville, Florida
58. Memphis, Tennessee
59. Santa Ana, California
60. San Antonio, Texas
61. Detroit, Michigan
62. Long Beach, California
63. Corpus Christi, Texas
And the least literate city in the United States is El Paso, Texas.
