Albuquerque among America’s brainiest cities

The report, produced for the New Mexico Business Weekly’s parent, ACBJ, for its Bizjournals.com Web site, says 18.4 percent of Albuquerque residents hold a bachelor’s degree, while 13.4 percent have earned a graduate or professional degree. Another 24.2 percent attended college, but didn’t earn a degree, according to U.S. Census Bureau data evaluated for the report.

The city with the most highly educated population in the nation is Seattle. An analysis of Census Bureau data puts Seattle’s No. 1 ranking in perspective:

* Forty-seven percent of Seattle’s adults hold bachelor’s degrees, the strongest proportion of college-educated residents in any big city. It’s nearly double the U.S. average of 24.4 percent.

* Seattle is second to Washington, D.C., in the share of people with advanced diplomas. Twenty-one percent of Washington’s adults have earned graduate or professional degrees, followed by Seattle at 17 percent. The national average is 8.9 percent.

San Francisco and Austin are the runners-up in the Bizjournals.com study, which ranks the relative brainpower of 53 large communities.

Rounding out the top 10 are Colorado Springs, Minneapolis, Charlotte, San Diego, Washington, Portland, Ore., and Albuquerque.

New Mexico Business Weekly:

Thanks to Duke City Fix for the pointer.