America's Smartest Cities

Ever wonder what happened to your high school valedictorian? He or she might just have wound up in Washington, D.C. That metro area has the nation's highest percentage of residents with college degrees.

"Clearly, the biggest factor is still the presence of federal government jobs," he added. "But a lot of people in the 20s and 30s come here interested in public policy. There's an excitement about being in Washington, especially among young people who want to make a difference in the world."
In second-place San Francisco, 43.5% of residents have college degrees or better; San Jose, Calif., the hub of Silicon Valley, ranked third at 43.2%; and Raleigh, N.C., one of the points in that state's "Research Triangle," came in fourth at 42.2%.
Boston, where so many great universities are located, also boasts 42.2% of its population having a degree.