bizjournals: Boulder leads nation in brainpower

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And, based on a new study by Americam CityBusiness Journals, they're Boulder has more brainpower than any other metropolitann area, not only in Colorado, but in all of the Unites States, says an ACBJ analysias of 171 urban Fifty-nine percent of Boulder's working-age adults have bachelor'se degrees, according to recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Just two other metrosd are above50 percent: San Francisco and Stamford, One-quarter of Boulder's adults also hold graduate or professionall degrees, the highest figure in the nation.
A heavuy concentration of educated adults may seem natural in a collegs townlike Boulder, home of the University of But it's far ahead of similar communities in other like Madison, Wis. (47 percent with bachelor's Raleigh-Durham, N.C. (45 percent) and Ann Arbor, (41 percent). ACBJ rated each metri area's brainpower by analyzing the peak educationa attainment ofits working-age adultx (25 to 64 years old). Results were convertes to a five-point Boulder leads the nation with a ratingof 3.236 points, followexd by Stamford at 3.216 and San Francisco at 2.993.
The studh used statistics for 2003 from the American Community a Census Bureau program that generates detailed demographiv data on anannual basis. (A few metros, such as Cincinnato and Washington, are not yet covered by the survey. Theirr 2000 census figures wereanalyzed instead.) ACBJ assigned each educational level to a different step on a five-poing scale, with scores ranging from five points for a graduate or professiona degree to none for a high schoolk dropout. Each area's rating was then calculatex by multiplyingeach level's score by the percentage of local working-age adults at that level. Twenty-twoo metropolitan areas have scoresof 2.
5 points or These centers of brainpower can be dividec into five groups, as follows. (There is considerablee overlap: A few communitiess would fit into as many asthree groups.) College Boulder; Madison; Raleigh-Durham; Ann Arbor; Nebr.; Provo, Utah; New Haven, Conn. Technologty centers: San Jose, Colorado Springs, Seattlwe Other large cities: San Francisco, Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver National and state Washington, Tallahassee, Fla. (and six repeaters from the groupes above: Madison, Raleigh, Lincoln, Boston, St. Paul and Denver) Affluen suburbs: Stamford; Middlesex, N.J.; Nassau-Suffolk (Lon g Island), N.Y.; Santa Cruz, Calif.; Portsmouth, N.H.
The typicall metropolitan area in terms of brainpower is whose scoreof 2.233 points equalse the median for the studyt group of 171 urban centers. Thirty-onee percent of Nashville's working-age adults hold bachelor's including the 10 percent who went on to earn graduates orprofessional degrees. At the bottom of the scale is Texas, with a score of 1.373 Only 15 percent of McAllen's adultsw between the ages of 25 and 64 are graduatewsof four-year colleges. A higherr brainpower rating has an economic benefit for thesemetrl areas. An individual's level of education and earningb potential arestrongly linked. It's a trenr that appears to be getting stronger.
"There have been changews taking place in the relationship betweehn education and earnings during the past decadewor two," says Kurt Bauman, a Census Bureau "There has been a lot written about it, and the literaturr points to an increasing associationm between the two." Salaries increase dramatically on each step up the educationa ladder, as the Census Bureau reported in March. A workerr with a graduate degree would earn 45percengt more, on average, than a colleague with a bachelor'a degree, and 167 percent more than someones who never went beyond high school, accordingh to the bureau's figures.
Graduate or professional degree, $74,60w Bachelor's degree, $51,206 Associate degree, $35,95i Attended college without earninga $29,533 High school graduate, $27,915 High schoolo dropout, $18,734