One of the many qualities that people look for in a potential location or company is the intelligence of those around them. This factor can play a huge role in one’s experience at a particular company and can make or break an employee’s time there. So finding a city with an intelligent population — the smartest cities in Arizona — makes sense for both companies and employees. That’s where Zippia comes in; to help you identify those places in Arizona that might have skipped a grade… or two.
You may be wondering, “How does one determine how intelligent a town really is?”
READ ALSO: 3 Arizona cities among 10 least crowded cities in U.S.
Well we went to the source of all things demographic data – the census – to figure out what criteria about a place would identify it is a smart cookie.
We set upon the percentage of adults (over 25) with at least a college degree and the percentage of high school dropouts (aged 15-17) for the 44 largest cities in Arizona with data. We then crunched the numbers and were left with this set of the brightest cities in the Grand Canyon State:
1. Sedona
2. Scottsdale
3. Oro Valley
4. Queen Creek
5. Tempe
7. Marana
8. Payson
9. Sahuarita
10. Chandler
Read on to see why these places got into a four-year college. If you want to put your smarts to work, you can start your job seach with Zippia here.
How we determined the smartest places in the Grand Canyon State?
Before we could dive into the potential IQs of various places in Arizona, we needed to know which places to look at in the first place. We settled upon any place with over 10,000 people and data available for every criteria.
This left us with 44 places in Arizona.
We then looked at the following criteria to determine the cream from the crop when it comes to smarts:
• Percentage of adults with at least a college education (Higher is smarter)
• Percentage of teenagers that are high school dropouts (Lower is smarter)
Our data comes directly from the latest American Community Survey from the Census.
We thought this criteria was representative of the current state of smarts with the potential for a place to improve the education levels of the next generation. And, for reference, only about 30% of Americans over 25 have graduated from college.
In order to determine the smartest, we ranked all the cities for each criteria from one to 44 with one being the “smartest” in any category.
We took the average rank across the criteria, with the place posting the highest overall score being given the diploma for “Smartest City In Arizona”.
If your city or town isn’t among the top 10, jump down to the bottom of the post to see a detailed chart. Otherwise, learn more about how the top ten cities achieved their potential.
In the end, Sedona ended up being the the smartest city in the Grand Canyon State.
1. Sedona
Population: 10,204
Adults /w BA+: 48.65%
High School Dropout Rate: 0%
Sedona graduated early and at the top of the class. It’s taken the diploma as the smartest city in the state of Arizona with a 0% high school dropout rate and 48.65% of the population has a college degree.
2. Scottsdale
Population: 227,471
Adults /w BA+: 54.18%
High School Dropout Rate: 1%
The silver finisher is Scottsdale with 227,471 residents. With so few high school dropouts and 54.18% of the adult population with a college diploma they earned their spot here.
3. Oro Valley
Population: 41,965
Adults /w BA+: 50.59%
High School Dropout Rate: 1%
Our bronze finisher is the city of Oro Valley, AZ. At a population of 41,965 and almost no high school dropouts the kids here are studying every night.
4. Queen Creek
Population: 30,143
Adults /w BA+: 39.33%
High School Dropout Rate: 0%
Queen Creek is pretty clever at #4. With a high school dropout rate of 0% and 39.33% of the population has a college diploma this little town is doing big things.
5. Tempe
Population: 169,816
Adults /w BA+: 41.87%
High School Dropout Rate: 2%
The residents of Tempe really are some of the brightest bulbs in the box with so few high school dropouts and 41.87% of adults have a diploma.
Come soak up some of the smarts here.
6. Paradise Valley
Population: 13,477A
dults /w BA+: 71.84%
High School Dropout Rate: 3%
Coming in at #6, Paradise Valley is making a big show of intelligence as only 3% of high school kids are dropping out early and 71.84% of the population has a college diploma.
7. Marana
Population: 38,280
Adults /w BA+: 40.45%
High School Dropout Rate: 2%
Marana should feel pretty great coming in at #7. They beat out plenty of competition to take their spot on the list of smartest cities with a dropout of rate of 2% and a solid amount of college educated adults.
8. Payson
Population: 15,248
Adults /w BA+: 22.57%
High School Dropout Rate: 0%
Payson is coming in at #8 with some pretty great numbers. An ultra low high school dropout rate and 22.57% of adults with a college diploma earns them a high rank on our list.
9. Sahuarita
Population: 25,430
Adults /w BA+: 34.34%
High School Dropout Rate: 2%
The residents of Sahuarita obviously have the keys to success in their pocket as they take the #9 spot on our list. At a population of 25,430 and very few high school dropouts this city is on the path to success in the classroom.
10. Chandler
Population: 250,202
Adults /w BA+: 40.88%
High School Dropout Rate: 3%
Rounding out our list and coming in at #10 is the city of Chandler, Arizona. With only 3% of the high school population not making it to graduation and 40.88% of the adult population having earned at least a college degree they deserve their spot on the list.
And that’s how you graduate in style
There you have it folks, the 10 Smartest Cities in the state Arizona. They have the numbers to back it up so go ahead and visit them to soak up some of the smarts around town.
If you’re curious enough, here are the least smart places in Arizona:
1. Bullhead City
2. Somerton
3. Chino Valley
