On Monday, WalletHub released its list of the most educated cities in the country, looking at which areas have the most schooling.
To figure out which places were considered the “most educated,” researchers looked at factors like degree holders, local school quality, and nearby learning opportunities.
“Not all highly educated people will flock to the same areas, though,” the study reads. “Some may prefer to have many people with similar education levels around them for socializing and career connections. Others may want to be a big fish in a little pond. Not every city will provide the same quality of life to those with higher education, either.”
The specific breakdown of factors used in this study is as follows:
- Educational Attainment (80%)
- Share of adults aged 25 and older with a high school diploma or higher
- Share of adults aged 25 and older with at least some college experience, an associate’s degree, or higher
- Share of adults aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher
- Share of adults aged 25 and older with a graduate or professional degree
- Quality of Education (20%)
- Quality of the public school system
- Average quality of universities
- Enrolled students in top 822 universities per capita
- Number of summer learning opportunities per capita
- “Racial education gap”
- “Gender education gap”
- Education “Equality Index Score”
Nationally, the most educated city turned out to be Ann Arbor, Michigan. Below that is Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina (No. 2), and Madison, Wisconsin (No. 3).
Meanwhile, the first Florida city to pop up in the ranking was pinned a bit further down at No. 22 — the state’s capitol, Tallahassee.
Tallahassee ranked well in terms of both educational attainment and the local quality of education, but it was a bit of an outlier from the rest of the state, which averaged around the middle of the pack.
Down at the other end of the spectrum, though, sits Ocala, which placed No. 139 nationally.
[BELOW: Find out how Marion County schools are dealing with a $64 million deficit]
While Ocala performed poorly in terms of attainment, it was actually the bottom-ranked city overall when it came to education quality specifically.
This news may come as a shock to some, as the Sunshine State was ranked second in the nation earlier this year when it comes to education.
Florida received that honor courtesy of World & News Report back in May, which announced that the state had performed remarkably well when it comes to higher education specifically.
Regardless, the full list of Florida cities included in WalletHub’s latest ranking is as follows:
| State Rank | Metro Area | Total Score | Attainment Rank | Q.o.E. Rank | National Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tallahassee | 68.79 | 25 | 21 | 22 |
| 2 | Naples-Marco Island | 59.84 | 42 | 117 | 50 |
| 3 | North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton | 58.70 | 41 | 138 | 53 |
| 4 | Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford | 58.13 | 73 | 17 | 54 |
| 5 | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | 56.58 | 60 | 112 | 66 |
| 6 | Jacksonville | 55.84 | 72 | 62 | 72 |
| 7 | Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Pompano Beach | 55.50 | 86 | 5 | 73 |
| 8 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | 54.33 | 80 | 46 | 75 |
| 9 | Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent | 49.76 | 98 | 70 | 98 |
| 10 | Cape Coral-Ft. Myers | 47.54 | 103 | 106 | 107 |
| 11 | Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach | 46.74 | 110 | 56 | 110 |
| 12 | Port St. Lucie | 42.79 | 112 | 141 | 116 |
| 13 | Lakeland-Winter Haven | 32.89 | 137 | 64 | 137 |
| 14 | Ocala | 30.92 | 134 | 150 | 139 |