JAX Ranks Only #37 out 56 for Smarts

[trigger]

The Daily Beast has published their first-ever ranking of the smartest cities in America (i.e. their residents) and Jacksonville is tied (with Greensboro, NC) for #37 out of 56 cities. To be honest, #37 is higher than I expected...

"Which metropolis has the most intelligent residents? The Daily Beast crunched the data on the brainpower of America’s 55 largest cities, from first-to-worst. How did your hometown rank? Collective brainpower. More than sports prowess or political leanings or wealth or cultural accomplishments, this is the quintessential bragging point of a metropolitan area, the civic version of a playground taunt: I’m smart, you’re not. So in terms of sorting out which cities walk the walk, The Daily Beast decided to play scorekeeper. Specifically, we’ve gone out and ranked the relative intelligence of every major American population hub, from first-to-worst."

See http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-04/americas-smartest-cities---from-first-to-worst/?cid=hp:mainpromo5 for more.

[copperfiend]

It could be worser.

[JeffreyS]

An interesting survey and criteria.

[untarded]

Yeah, but we have plenty of downtown parking

[Captain Zissou]

Looks like on the whole, Florida and Texas are pretty dumb.  I thought on a per-capita basis we could beat a few of the cities we were behind (namely LA), but that ranking seems about right.  When you consider that we were immediately followed by 3 or 4 other industrial cities, I think that shows why we also ranked fairly low.  

I'm just getting tired of Denver, Austin, Portland, Seattle, and San Fran finishing at the top of ever ranking imaginable.  Can someone please tailor a study to have Jax win?  Jorts per-capita perhaps?

[copperfiend]

Chinese takeout per capita?

[Lunican]

Super Walmarts per capita?

[tufsu1]

#37 is pretty good considering the title of this thread :-)

[JeffreyS]

Hooters per capita?

[fsu813]

Hmmm. Interesting. We rank 17 out for 360 in the best mid-sized cities to attend college, per the October issue of Jacksonville Magazine. As rated by the American Institute of Economic something or other.

I guess they leave.

[NotNow]

# of people who form their opinions based on magazine rankings?

[JeffreyS]

I certainly do not think this list is divine providence but I liked their methodology. Jax likes to read but low on degrees earned seems accurate.

[buckethead]

Portland Maine is a nice place!

[CS Foltz]

I am confused as to how we got ranked as high as #37? Obviously they did not take into account the current Administration! Or we would have been much lower!

[GreenInstall]

It could be worser.

HAHAHAHA, ok we're high for sense of humor