Do you live in one of the smartest towns?
You know your neighbors. Would you say they’re a smart lot? Or are they a little dim?
Now you can confirm your suspicions, whatever they may be. Forbes Magazines, which hasn’t met a list it hasn’t liked, recently published its ranking of the small towns that feature the most residents with advanced degrees. In other words, Forbes has listed what it considers the smartest small towns in the United States.
Now, such a list is inherently questionable. After all, you don’t need an advanced degree to be smart. But still, it is a fun list to read. And who knows? Your small town might be on there, even if your neighbor is a lunkhead.
Here, then, are the towns that Forbes’ editors consider the smartest. If you live in any of them, your experiences, of course, might differ:
1. Bethesda, Md., where 51.5 percent of the residents who are 25 or older have master’s degrees or doctorates.
2. Wellesley, Mass., home of Wellesley College.
3. Palo Alto, Calif., home to Stanford University.
4. McLean, Va., located, actually, pretty close to number-one on this list. It’s also pretty close to Washington, D.C.; Guess all the stupidity from that town doesn’t rub off.
5. Los Altos, Calif., also near Stanford University.
6. West Lafayette, Ind., the home of Purdue University. Let’s hear it for my beloved Midwest! We have one small town on the “smart” list.
7. Potomac, Md., again dangerously close to the seat of our federal government but still, amazingly, smart.
8. Lexington, Mass., a no-brainer, near Harvard, Tufts and Boston College.
9. Mountain Brook, Ala., home of the University of Alabama, and the first representative of the South on this list.
10. University Park, Texas, because you knew Texas had to have something on every list.
If your small town didn’t show up on this list, don’t feel too bad. The list is anything but scientific. Besides, you never know when the residents of one of the top-10 towns might suffer a little dumbing down. If they own TVs, the odds are good it’ll happen any day now.
