Morgan Quitno Press compiles an annual ranking of the smartest states in the US based on 21 factors, including education and income. Vermont was rated the smartest state in 2005-2006, followed by Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maine, Minnesota, Virginia, Wisconsin, Montana, and New York. Seattle was declared the smartest city due to its high number of residents with bachelor’s degrees, while San Francisco, Raleigh, Washington DC, and Austin rounded out the top five. The rankings change each year, and the Northeast and Upper Midwest tend to dominate the top ten.
When determining something as potentially controversial as the smartest state in the United States, it’s important to keep in mind that it all boils down to what factors are considered in the decision-making process. Morgan Quitno Press, which compiles and publishes state and city rankings each year, releases its own smartest state rankings. This publication is currently the main “intelligence” ranking of states.
Morgan Quitno considers 21 separate factors, both positive and negative, when determining the smartest state. Positive factors contribute to the “smartness” of a state, while negative factors reduce the score. For the 2005-2006 list, Vermont was rated the smartest state. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maine, Minnesota, Virginia, Wisconsin, Montana and New York round out the top ten. For the most part, the states themselves were ranked in the top ten in the 2004-2005 rankings, although Massachusetts earned the smartest state designation. The top ten states tend to be in the Northeast and Upper Midwest on a consistent basis.
Factors considered in Morgan Quitno’s assessment include how much elementary and secondary public school income is generated for every US$1,000 of one’s personal income, as well as public school expenses. Two other important factors are the percentage of high school graduates in the general population and the high school graduation rate. The dropout rate is also taken into consideration. Morgan Quitno takes into account the proficiency of elementary and secondary school students in reading, writing and math, as well as average class size.
Other factors examined in selecting the smartest state include the median teacher salary, median elementary and secondary school attendance, median student-to-teacher ratio, and percentage of the population of school-age children actually enrolled in school. Other important factors are the percentage of school leaders among school employees and the special education student-to-faculty ratio. There are new factors considered each year, which means that one year cannot always be directly compared to another.
In what appears to be an obsession with determining “the best,” the media not only touts the smartest state, but also assigns rankings to cities by comparing census data and other statistics. When comparing the number of college degrees, Seattle, Washington was declared the smartest city, because 52.7% of its residents who are 25 years of age or older have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Seattle has also been designated as the most literate city due to its newspaper circulation and number of libraries and bookstores. San Francisco, CA, Raleigh, NC, Washington DC and Austin, TX round out the top five smartest cities. Interestingly, none of their home states made it into the top five smartest states, leaving much to be debated in designating the smartest state.
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