Boulder is ranked No. 1 nationally as the leading destination for the nation’s best and brightest.
This is according the recent Bloomberg Brain Concentration Index.
Boulder is a small college town located just north of Colorado’s capital. It has the higher concentration of smart people than any other city in the US.
Boulder’s score is 99.15 and it beats out well-known Silicon Valley tech hubs such as San Jose and San Francisco.
The Brain Concentration Index aims to track business growth and employment and education in sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Boulder is home to a National Weather Service office, a Google campus, government laboratories, and a growing number of tech startups.
Aside from Boulder, two other Colorado cities were highly ranked. Fort Collins came in at fourth place and Denver ranked 10th.
Having Boulder, Fort Collins, and Denver in the top 10 list could help the efforts of Colorado to land Amazon’s second North American headquarters.
One of Amazon’s criteria is a good supply of skilled tech workers and a business-friendly environment.
Here’s the complete list of the top cities with Brain Concentration Index score in parentheses:
- Boulder, CO (99.15)
- San Francisco, CA (97.33)
- San Jose, CA (96.94)
- Fort Collins, CO (96.16)
- Washington, DC (95.66)
- Raleigh, NC (95.00)
- Durham, NC (94.64)
- Madison, WI (93.40)
- Seattle, WA (93.27)
- Denver, CO (93.26)
