It doesn’t take a genius to look west and scan the Front Range on a clear day, taking in the majestic snow-capped peaks, and think to yourself that Colorado is a great place to live.
Though living in a state with such natural beauty doesn’t require genius-level thinking, it seems that Colorado both grows and attracts some pretty smart folks.
According to , the Centennial State is the fifth-most educated in the country.
So, that’s a high five for the big brains, Colorado.
WalletHub applied 20 metrics to all 50 states to come up with the rankings. Colorado was first in percentage of associate’s degree holders or college-experienced adults, and second in percentage of bachelor’s degree holders.
Other metrics included percentage of high school diploma holders (Colorado was 14th) and percentage of graduate- or professional-degree holders (8th).
One area where the study says Colorado is lacking is in university quality — a ranking of 47 puts the state only ahead of Kentucky, Montana and South Dakota.
The four states ranked ahead of Colorado as most educated were:
- Massachusetts (The home of Harvard, so, no surprise)
- Maryland
- Vermont
- Connecticut
