These Bay Area cities ranked at top of U.S. 'most educated'
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 26: Traffic heads east on Highway 24 past the Rockridge BART station during the afternoon commute in Oakland, California. (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)
OAKLAND, Calif. - A couple of Bay Area cities made it to the top of a list of smartest cities in the United States.
WalletHub released the study last week comparing the 150 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. to determine which cities had the most educated people.
Topping the list at number one was Ann Harbor, Michigan, then San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara, together, ranked second.
The Washington D.C. metropolitan area took third, and San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley came in at fourth.
WalletHub said they used 11 key metrics looking at adults aged 25 and older with a bachelor's degree or higher. They also looked at the quality of the public school system and the gender education gap.
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Experts say not all highly educated people flock to the same areas though. While many like to be among those they have similar education levels for socializing and career connections, others like to be a big fish in a little pond.
WalletHub said COVID took a toll on many U.S. cities so the list of most educated could shift in the near future. Standardized test scores have made sizable drops, and score gaps between low-poverty and high-poverty districts increased, experts said.