The Smartest US Cities?
Once a year, Central Connecticut State University puts out a list of the most and least literate cities in the country. If you're from Washington, D.C., you've probably already seen it. But if you live in Bakersfield, maybe not.
Every year, Central Connecticut State University puts out a list of America’s most literate cities, which media from CNN to The Huffington Post immediatly morph into headlines announcing the list of “America’s smartest cities.”
Poppycock. Literacy and intelligence are radically different. And for that matter, counting bookstores isn’t a great way to measure literacy either.
From Central Connecticut’s website:
Drawing from a variety of available data resources, the America’s Most Literate Cities study ranks the largest cities (population 250,000 and above) in the United States. This study focuses on six key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources.
Drumroll, please. Here’s this year’s list of most literate cities.
| CITY | FINAL RANK 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 |
| Washington, D.C. | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3.5 | 3 |
| Seattle, Wash. | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Minneapolis, Minn. | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1.5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Atlanta, Ga. | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 3.5 | 4 |
| Boston, Mass. | 5 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 7 |
| Pittsburgh, Pa. | 6 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 8 |
| Cincinnati, Ohio | 7 | 11 | 9 | 10.5 | 11 | 7 | 9.5 |
| St. Louis, Mo. | 8 | 9.5 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 12 | 15 |
| San Francisco, Calif. | 9 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 5 |
| Denver, Colo. | 10 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 6 |
And here’s the list of the 10 least literate cities:
| San Antonio, Texas | 66 | 62 | 61 | 64 | 62 | 63 | 64 |
| Aurora, Colo. | 67 | 74 | 70.5 | 66 | 66 | 67 | 55 |
| Glendale, Ariz. | 68 | 66 | 65.5 | 65 | – | – | – |
| Anaheim, Calif. | 69 | 72 | 69 | 67 | 67 | 64.5 | 66 |
| Mesa, Ariz. | 70 | 65 | 68 | 61 | 61 | 58 | 52 |
| Fresno, Calif. | 71 | 64 | 65.5 | 59 | 58 | 60 | 63 |
| Stockton, Calif. | 72 | 75 | 72 | 70 | 69 | 70 | 69 |
| El Paso, Texas | 73 | 69.5 | 75 | 71 | 68 | 69 | 68 |
| Corpus Christi, Texas | 74 | 69.5 | 74 | 69 | 65 | 68 | 67 |
| Bakersfield, Calif. | 75 | 73 | 73 | 68 | 64 | 66 | 65 |
By the way, Money Talks TV News airs in none of the top cities on the list, but in all of the last three.
Is this really literacy?
There’s no way to link bookstores, newspaper circulation, and educational attainment to native intelligence, so these results have nothing to do with “America’s Smartest Cities.” But do they even represent America’s most literate?
Here’s Merriam Webster’s definition:
1lit·er·ate
adj \ˈli-tə-rət also ˈli-trət\
a: educated, cultured
b: able to read and write
I could make the argument that the stuff these guys are counting doesn’t even establish a city’s literacy, especially by the second definition. After all, Washington, D.C., may have tons of libraries, but it could also have thousands of people who can’t read at all. Every single person in Bakersfield, on the other hand, may be able to.
What do you think? Is Washington really “smarter” or more “literate” than Bakersfield – or your city? Take a second and give me your educated opinion on Facebook.
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