These Are The 10 Smartest Cities In Rhode Island

We used data and science to determine the brainiacs around Rhode Island.

#1 - Warwick

#1

#2 - Newport

#2

#3 - Woonsocket

#3

#4 - Cranston

#4

#5 - Central Falls

#5

#6 - East Providence

#6

#7 - Pawtucket

#7

#8 - Providence

#8

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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 Rhode Island 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 8 largest cities in Rhode Island with data. We then crunched the numbers and were left with this set of the brightest cities in the Ocean 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. 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 Ocean State?

Before we could dive into the potential IQs of various places in Rhode Island, we needed to know which places to look at in the first place. We settled upon any place with over 19,000 people and data available for every criteria.

This left us with 8 places in Rhode Island.

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 8 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 Rhode Island".

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, Warwick ended up being the the smartest city in the Ocean State.

1. Warwick

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 81,855Adults /w BA+: 31.87% High School Dropout Rate: 2%

Warwick graduated early and at the top of the class. It's taken the diploma as the smartest city in the state of Rhode Island with a 2% high school dropout rate and 31.87% of the population has a college degree.

2. Newport

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 24,459Adults /w BA+: 49.21% High School Dropout Rate: 6%

The silver finisher is Newport with 24,459 residents. With so few high school dropouts and 49.21% of the adult population with a college diploma they earned their spot here.

3. Woonsocket

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 41,213Adults /w BA+: 14.42% High School Dropout Rate: 1%

Our bronze finisher is the city of Woonsocket, RI. At a population of 41,213 and almost no high school dropouts the kids here are studying every night.

4. Cranston

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 80,761Adults /w BA+: 29.86% High School Dropout Rate: 6%

Cranston is pretty clever at #4. With a high school dropout rate of 6% and 29.86% of the population has a college diploma this little town is doing big things.

5. Central Falls

Source: Flickr

Population: 19,378Adults /w BA+: 8.86% High School Dropout Rate: 1%

The residents of Central Falls really are some of the brightest bulbs in the box with so few high school dropouts and 8.86% of adults have a diploma.

Come soak up some of the smarts here.

6. East Providence

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 47,266Adults /w BA+: 26.05% High School Dropout Rate: 5%

Coming in at #6, East Providence is making a big show of intelligence as only 5% of high school kids are dropping out early and 26.05% of the population has a college diploma.

7. Pawtucket

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 71,395Adults /w BA+: 18.17% High School Dropout Rate: 3%

Pawtucket 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 3% and a solid amount of college educated adults.

8. Providence

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 178,680Adults /w BA+: 29.29% High School Dropout Rate: 6%

Providence is coming in at #8 with some pretty great numbers. An ultra low high school dropout rate and 29.29% of adults with a college diploma earns them a high rank on our list.

And that's how you graduate in style

There you have it folks, the 10 Smartest Cities in the state Rhode Island. 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 Rhode Island:

Providence
Pawtucket
East Providence

Detailed List Of The Smartest Cities In Rhode Island

Rank	City
1	Warwick
2	Newport
3	Woonsocket
4	Cranston
5	Central Falls
6	East Providence
7	Pawtucket
8	Providence

Rhode Island Job Openings - 8,368 Jobs

Rhode Island Job Openings - 8,368 Jobs

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