These Are The 10 Smartest Cities In Indiana

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 oneâs experience at a particular company and can make or break an employeeâs time there.

So finding a city with an intelligent population makes sense for both companies and employees. Thatâs where Zippia comes in; to help you identify those places in Indiana that might have skipped a gradeâ¦or two.

You may be wondering how does one determine the intelligence of a town?

Well, we went to the source of all things demographic data â the Census â to figure out what criteria about a place would identify it as a smart cookie.

We looked at the percentage of adults (over 25) with at least a high school degree and the percentage of high school drop outs (aged 16-20) for the 119 largest cities in Indiana with data. We then crunched the numbers and were left with this set of the brightest cities in the Hoosier State:

Read on to see why these places got into a four-year college or skip to the end to see a full chart of all the places in our analysis.

For more IN reading, check out:

How we determined the smartest places in the Hoosier State

Before we could dive into the potential IQs of various places in Indiana, we needed to know which places to look at in the first place. We settled upon any place with over 5,000 people and data available for every criteria.

This left us with 119 places in Indiana.

We then looked at the following criteria to determine the cream of the crop when it comes to smarts:

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 itâs not like we are setting the education bar incredibly high â 80% of students graduate from high school nowadays.

In order to determine the smartest, we ranked all the cities for each criteria from one to 119 with one being the âsmartestâ in any category.

We took the average rank across all criteria, with the place posting the highest overall score being given the diploma for âSmartest City In Indianaâ.

If your city or town isnât 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.

1. Carmel

Population: 83,474
Adults Without High School Diploma: 1.9%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 0.8%

2. Hunte

Population: 5,326
Adults Without High School Diploma: 4.0%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 0.0%

3. West Lafayette

Population: 30,843
Adults Without High School Diploma: 4.5%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 0.0%

4. Munster

Population: 23,325
Adults Without High School Diploma: 5.2%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 0.0%

5. Yor

Population: 11,265
Adults Without High School Diploma: 5.4%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 0.0%

6. New Whiteland

Population: 5,646
Adults Without High School Diploma: 5.5%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 0.0%

7. Westfield

Population: 32,426
Adults Without High School Diploma: 4.0%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 1.3%

8. Bloomington

Population: 81,963
Adults Without High School Diploma: 7.0%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 0.2%

9. Bargersville

Population: 6,324
Adults Without High School Diploma: 7.1%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 0.0%

10. Batesville

Population: 6,397
Adults Without High School Diploma: 7.3%
Teenage High School Drop Outs: 0.0%

And thatâs how you graduate in style

Detailed List Of Smartest Cities In Indiana

CityRankPopulationAdults Without High School DiplomaTeenage High School Drop Outs

Carmel	1	83,474	1.9%	0.8%
Hunte	2	5,326	4.0%	0.0%
West Lafayette	3	30,843	4.5%	0.0%
Munster	4	23,325	5.2%	0.0%
Yor	5	11,265	5.4%	0.0%
New Whiteland	6	5,646	5.5%	0.0%
Westfield	7	32,426	4.0%	1.3%
Bloomington	8	81,963	7.0%	0.2%
Bargersville	9	6,324	7.1%	0.0%
Batesville	10	6,397	7.3%	0.0%
Brownsburg	11	22,618	5.9%	1.6%
Zionsville	12	24,559	2.1%	3.2%
Fishers	13	81,060	2.3%	4.0%
North Manchester	14	6,080	9.1%	0.0%
Lowell	15	9,347	7.5%	2.0%
Dyer	16	16,322	8.3%	1.4%
St. John	17	15,456	3.0%	4.1%
Avon	18	14,570	5.5%	4.0%
Griffith	19	16,765	9.5%	0.7%
Noblesville	20	56,576	5.3%	4.0%
Merrillville	21	35,262	9.9%	0.2%
Highland	22	23,429	8.3%	2.3%
Chesterton	23	13,894	7.1%	3.4%
Auburn	24	12,972	11.0%	0.0%
Danville	25	9,258	7.9%	3.5%
Columbus	26	45,522	8.9%	2.6%
Greenwood	27	52,799	8.9%	2.8%
Schererville	28	29,082	7.0%	4.2%
New Haven	29	15,612	11.2%	2.4%
Garrett	30	6,213	13.0%	0.0%
Crown Point	31	28,259	7.4%	5.1%
Nappanee	32	6,639	13.7%	0.0%
Cedar Lake	33	11,653	12.1%	2.3%
Charlestown	34	7,802	14.2%	0.0%
Sellersburg	35	8,004	9.2%	4.4%
Rochester	36	6,151	14.7%	0.0%
Valparaiso	37	31,745	7.4%	5.7%
Rensselaer	38	5,787	14.8%	0.0%
Portage	39	37,008	11.8%	4.0%
Franklin	40	24,193	11.6%	4.1%
Angola	41	8,610	15.3%	0.0%
Fort Wayne	42	255,784	11.8%	4.1%
McCordsville	43	5,037	1.8%	13.3%
Ellettsville	44	6,352	12.7%	4.0%
Bluffton	45	9,621	12.9%	3.6%
Plainfield	46	29,220	9.4%	5.4%
Mount Vernon	47	6,607	12.1%	4.1%
Monticello	48	5,355	15.5%	0.0%
Greencastle	49	10,307	12.9%	3.7%
Greenfield	50	21,012	8.8%	6.3%
Princeton	51	8,600	10.8%	5.5%
Tell City	52	7,251	12.5%	4.5%
Portland	53	6,408	17.7%	0.0%
Lawrence	54	46,796	12.4%	5.2%
Kokomo	55	56,958	12.7%	5.1%
Muncie	56	70,035	14.9%	3.9%
Hobart	57	29,136	11.5%	6.1%
Alexandria	58	5,100	18.5%	0.0%
Jeffersonville	59	45,869	11.9%	5.7%
New Castle	60	17,859	18.3%	1.2%
Lafayette	61	69,982	13.6%	4.5%
Vincennes	62	18,233	16.5%	2.4%
Warsaw	63	14,179	16.1%	2.9%
Bedford	64	13,384	18.8%	1.3%
Jasper	65	15,177	13.6%	5.2%
Peru	66	11,199	20.3%	1.2%
Salem	67	6,264	22.1%	0.0%
Crawfordsville	68	15,988	15.9%	4.0%
North Vernon	69	6,736	17.8%	3.1%
Wabash	70	10,534	14.0%	5.4%
Huntingburg	71	6,489	27.6%	0.0%
Mishawaka	72	48,120	13.3%	7.0%
Goshen	73	32,297	22.9%	1.4%
Columbia City	74	9,057	15.5%	5.2%
Boonville	75	6,220	13.0%	8.3%
Tipton	76	5,288	16.5%	4.5%
La Porte	77	22,153	14.0%	7.1%
Lebanon	78	15,688	11.9%	13.6%
Kendallville	79	9,847	12.0%	13.4%
Hartford City	80	6,166	14.7%	6.8%
Terre Haute	81	61,040	15.3%	6.0%
Rushville	82	6,314	19.9%	4.0%
Mooresville	83	9,459	11.6%	16.7%
Decatur	84	9,511	13.3%	10.2%
Cumberland	85	5,243	13.9%	9.0%
Beech Grove	86	14,301	13.7%	9.4%
Huntington	87	17,284	14.7%	7.4%
Evansville	88	120,220	12.8%	12.1%
Indianapolis	89	835,097	15.4%	6.3%
Elwood	90	8,569	17.2%	5.2%
Greensburg	91	12,160	11.8%	21.9%
Gas City	92	6,093	15.2%	7.4%
Speedway	93	12,012	12.7%	16.7%
Michigan City	94	31,369	16.0%	7.2%
Clarksville	95	21,579	15.4%	10.2%
Marion	96	29,403	18.9%	5.6%
New Albany	97	36,496	16.4%	8.1%
Martinsville	98	11,756	18.1%	7.2%
Connersville	99	13,267	20.9%	5.5%
South Bend	100	100,422	15.5%	11.8%
Plymouth	101	10,048	22.8%	5.2%
Madison	102	12,033	14.5%	19.6%
Frankfort	103	16,488	20.6%	6.0%
Gary	104	79,165	16.9%	9.3%
Anderson	105	55,789	16.6%	10.7%
Seymour	106	18,686	15.8%	15.2%
Hammond	107	79,585	21.0%	7.2%
Shelbyville	108	19,216	16.9%	12.2%
Washington	109	11,758	16.1%	16.1%
Richmond	110	36,527	18.5%	11.3%
East Chicago	111	29,387	28.2%	5.7%
Linton	112	5,368	20.2%	11.4%
Elkhart	113	51,539	24.0%	7.4%
Lake Station	114	12,369	21.1%	11.8%
Brazil	115	8,022	22.7%	10.4%
Scottsburg	116	6,700	21.5%	11.7%
Lawrenceburg	117	5,022	21.0%	15.9%
Logansport	118	17,933	27.1%	15.8%
Westville	119	6,895	27.9%	42.3%

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Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.