SAN JOSE, California — The San Jose metropolitan area ranks as the third-most educated city in the United States, according to a new study released Monday by personal finance website WalletHub.
The report, which evaluated 150 metropolitan areas across the country, grouped San Jose with Sunnyvale and Santa Clara and placed the combined area third overall. San Jose ranked fourth in the "Educational Attainment" category — which measures the share of adults with high school diplomas, college degrees, and graduate degrees — and third in the "Quality of Education & Attainment Gap" category, which factors in school system quality and racial and gender gaps in educational achievement.
The San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metropolitan area also placed in the top ten, ranking sixth overall. San Francisco placed eighth in educational attainment and seventh in quality of education and attainment gap, according to the WalletHub study. Ann Arbor, Michigan, was ranked as the most educated city in the nation, followed by the Washington, D.C. area.
The Bay Area's strong showing reflects the region's concentration of technology companies, research universities, and a workforce that demands advanced degrees. More than 54 percent of adults in the San Jose metro area hold a bachelor's degree, and more than 26 percent hold a graduate degree, according to data cited in previous WalletHub rankings.