These Are The 10 Smartest Cities In Alaska

We used data and science to determine the brainiacs around Alaska.

#1 - Cordova

#1

#2 - Valdez

#2

#3 - North Pole

#3

#4 - Juneau

#4

#5 - Soldotna

#5

#6 - Dillingham

#6

#7 - Sitka

#7

#8 - Homer

#8

#9 - Anchorage

#9

#10 - Bethel

#10

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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 makes sense for both companies and employees. That's where Zippia comes in; to help you identify those places in Alaska that might have skipped a grade... or two.

You may be wondering, "How does one determine how intelligent a town really is?"

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 22 largest cities in Alaska with data. We then crunched the numbers and were left with this set of the brightest cities in the Last Frontier:

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. 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 Last Frontier?

Before we could dive into the potential IQs of various places in Alaska, we needed to know which places to look at in the first place. We settled upon any place with over 2,000 people and data available for every criteria.

This left us with 22 places in Alaska.

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 22 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 Alaska".

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, Cordova ended up being the the smartest city in the Last Frontier.

1. Cordova

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 2,621Adults /w BA+: 35.7% High School Dropout Rate: 0%

Cordova graduated early and at the top of the class. It's taken the diploma as the smartest city in the state of Alaska with a 0% high school dropout rate and 35.7% of the population has a college degree.

2. Valdez

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 3,979Adults /w BA+: 25.68% High School Dropout Rate: 0%

The silver finisher is Valdez with 3,979 residents. With so few high school dropouts and 25.68% of the adult population with a college diploma they earned their spot here.

3. North Pole

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 2,265Adults /w BA+: 25.39% High School Dropout Rate: 0%

Our bronze finisher is the city of North Pole, AK. At a population of 2,265 and almost no high school dropouts the kids here are studying every night.

4. Juneau

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 32,531Adults /w BA+: 38.52% High School Dropout Rate: 2%

Juneau is pretty clever at #4. With a high school dropout rate of 2% and 38.52% of the population has a college diploma this little town is doing big things.

5. Soldotna

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 4,409Adults /w BA+: 24.91% High School Dropout Rate: 0%

The residents of Soldotna really are some of the brightest bulbs in the box with so few high school dropouts and 24.91% of adults have a diploma.

Come soak up some of the smarts here.

6. Dillingham

Source: Flickr

Population: 2,307Adults /w BA+: 23.39% High School Dropout Rate: 0%

Coming in at #6, Dillingham is making a big show of intelligence as only 0% of high school kids are dropping out early and 23.39% of the population has a college diploma.

7. Sitka

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 8,943Adults /w BA+: 31.17% High School Dropout Rate: 2%

Sitka 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. Homer

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 5,324Adults /w BA+: 32.76% High School Dropout Rate: 3%

Homer is coming in at #8 with some pretty great numbers. An ultra low high school dropout rate and 32.76% of adults with a college diploma earns them a high rank on our list.

9. Anchorage

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 299,107Adults /w BA+: 33.2% High School Dropout Rate: 5%

The residents of Anchorage obviously have the keys to success in their pocket as they take the #9 spot on our list. At a population of 299,107 and very few high school dropouts this city is on the path to success in the classroom.

10. Bethel

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 6,370Adults /w BA+: 22.64% High School Dropout Rate: 2%

Rounding out our list and coming in at #10 is the city of Bethel, Alaska. With only 2% of the high school population not making it to graduation and 22.64% 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 Alaska. 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 Alaska:

Seward
Kotzebue
Kodiak

Detailed List Of The Smartest Cities In Alaska

Rank	City
1	Cordova
2	Valdez
3	North Pole
4	Juneau
5	Soldotna
6	Dillingham
7	Sitka
8	Homer
9	Anchorage
10	Bethel
11	Fairbanks
12	Unalaska
13	Wasilla
14	Wrangell
15	Nome
16	Kenai
17	Ketchikan
18	Barrow
19	Palmer
20	Kodiak
21	Kotzebue
22	Seward

Alaska Job Openings - 6,449 Jobs

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