Boulder given title two years in a row
Boulderites are rejoicing after their city was once again named the smartest in the nation.
In the Feb. 7 issue of Forbes magazine, Boulder was listed as the smartest city in the nation for the second year running.
In the article, writer Alyson Papalia wrote that part of the reason Boulder has been ranked so high is “undeniably because so much of its population is a result of the University of Colorado.”
Sean O’Donnell, a freshman pre-journalism major, said he agreed with the Papalia.
“The university really fosters an environment of learning for the whole community,” O’Donnell said.
Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson said he also agreed with the article.
“(The ranking) reflects positively on the university and the fact that highly educated people want to be in a community like Boulder,” Peterson said. “That is a mutually advantageous relationship.”
CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said that Boulder’s high rating was not surprising because the city has a world-class university and a large concentration of very educated people.
Hilliard went on to say, however, that while the ranking is a nice recognition of Boulder’s intellectual community, he does not think “any community worth its salt would walk around pounding its chest because it achieved that ranking.”
“We’ve got very bright people here, and we’ve known that for decades,” Hilliard said.
Jodie Carroll, a spokeswoman for the city of Boulder, said that the ranking was very fitting and very exciting, and that it shows the city’s ties with the university.
Forbes also recognized the city’s ongoing “environmental awareness” as one of the reasons it has held such a high ranking on the list.
“Boulder is one of the greenest cities in the United States,” Papalia wrote. “The residents take advantage of the many outdoor recreational activities available to the students, professors and overwhelmingly young adult population.”
Mattie Love, a freshman integrative physiology major, said that she was not surprised by this.
“I think that Boulder is a very progressive city in its ideas about sustainability and energy conservation,” she said. “I’m glad I moved here.”
Forbes determined the rank of each city on the list based on the number of people ages 25 and older that met certain academic criteria. Out of Boulder’s population of 279,897, 52.92 percent of people over 25 have a bachelor’s degree or higher, 3.97 percent have a doctorate and 92.89 percent are high school graduates.
Some other cities that came in behind Boulder on the list include Bethesda, Md., at number two, Ithaca, N.Y., at number three, Ann Arbor, Mich., at number four and Corvallis, Ore., at number five.
Fort Collins, where Colorado State University is located, was ranked at number 12.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Kaely Moore at kaely.moore@colorado.edu
