Rochester Named 10th Smartest City

The Rochester region was ranked 10th out of 55 American cities on The Daily Beast's list of "America's Smartest (and Dumbest) Cities."

This is the second year the publication has published the list; last year Rochester ranked 26th. The ranking is based on data organized on a per-capita basis so that larger cities don't get an advantage. Only regions with a population of 1 million or more were considered.

Criteria includes the number of residents over 25 years of age with bachelor's and advanced degrees, sales of nonfiction books and the number of institutions of higher learning and public libraries. Last year's criteria was slightly modified - more weight was given to advanced degrees and the number of higher learning institutions.

Five counties make up the Rochester MSA (metropolitan statistical area). Nineteen percent of residents hold a bachelor's degree and 13% have graduate degrees. Over 750,000 nonfiction titles were sold in the Rochester area so far this year.

New York City ranked 16th and last on the list at 55th was Las Vegas. The ranking of the Top 10 Cities is as follows:

1. Boston
2. Hartford-New Haven
3. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose
4. Raleigh-Durham
5. Denver
6. Seattle-Tacoma
7. Austin
8. Minneapolis-St. Paul
9. Washington, DC
10. Rochester, NY

Click here to read the full report.