Forbes Advisor’s new rankings of “The Most Educated Cities in the U.S.” puts Arlington, Virginia, at the top and the District at No. 3.
The rankings count college degrees among populations, but it also factors in high school dropout rates and racial disparities. Cities with smaller gender gaps in education also ranked higher.
Forbes Advisor said Arlington boasts a sky-high bachelor’s degree completion rate of over 76% among residents 25 years and older. Nearly 42% of adults there hold a graduate degree. Arlington does get dinged for a substantial racial gap in bachelor’s degree completions, with 10.5% of nonwhite degree holders.
Arlington’s high school dropout rate is just 4.65%, the third-lowest among ranked cities.
D.C. also has a high education attainment rate, with 63% of adults 25 years and older with a bachelor’s degree and nearly 38% with a graduate degree. Like Arlington, the District also scores poorly for a large racial gap in educational attainment. The share of white residents with a bachelor’s degree outstrips the overall rate by nearly 30%.
The high school dropout rate in D.C. is 7.24%, the third-highest among the top 10 ranked cities.
Atlanta ranks No. 2. Austin, Texas, and Madison, Wisconsin, round out the top 5.
In 2021, half of U.S. adults had a college degree, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, compared to 42% in 2010.
Forbes Advisor’s full rankings, and additional data on cost of higher education and educational attainment by gender, is online.
A list of the top 10 “most educated” U.S. cities, according to Forbes Advisor, is below.
