RALEIGH, N.C., Aug. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Online PhD Programs, an independent guide to earning a doctorate over the Internet, has published a ranking of the top 50 U.S. cities with highest percentage of doctoral degree holders (http://www.online-phd-programs.org/50-u-s-cities-with-the-most-doctoral-degree-holders/). The ranking offers brief profiles of the 50 U.S. cities with the highest percentage of inhabitants who possess doctorates, with possible explanations as to why.
According to Luke Paton, who co-authored the list, "There are many things for future doctoral candidates to consider before they embark on their chosen programs. Which institution to study at and what to research are the two most obvious, but thought should also be given to where doctorate holders might end up once they've finished their degrees." Paton also noted that anyone interested in living among a highly educated population will find the list helpful.
Combining the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau and City-Data.com, the ranking is headed by Brookline, Massachusetts, which boasts a population in which fourteen percent have earned a doctoral degree, and several PhD granting universities nearby, including Harvard University, Boston College, Boston University, and MIT. Brookline is followed closely by two California cities: Davis, with 13.5 percent holding a PhD and home to the University of California, Davis, and Palo Alto, home to Silicon Valley and the University of Southern California, which have helped produce and attract a population in which 13.1 percent hold a doctorate.
Other cities making the list include:
Ames, Iowa
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Arlington, Virginia
Athens-Clarke County, Georgia
Berkeley, California
Bethesda, Maryland
Bloomington, Indiana
Boulder, Colorado
Bryan, Texas
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cary, North Carolina
Catalina Foothills, Arizona
Champaign, Illinois
College Station, Texas
Columbia, Maryland
Columbia, Missouri
Cupertino, California
Durham, North Carolina
Ellicott City, Maryland
Encinitas, California
Evanston, Illinois
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fort Collins, Colorado
Gainesville, Florida
Gaithersburg, Maryland
Goleta, California
Iowa City, Iowa
Irvine, California
Lawrence, Kansas
Madison, Wisconsin
Mountain View, California
New Haven, Connecticut
Newton, Massachusetts
Norman, Oklahoma
Oak Park, Illinois
Pasadena, California
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Reston, Virginia
Santa Cruz, California
Seattle, Washington
Silver Spring, Maryland
Somerville, Massachusetts
Sunnyvale, California
Towson, Maryland
Walnut Creek, California
Washington, D.C.
West Hartford, Connecticut
The ranking only considered U.S. cities with a population of at least 50,000. Most of the data was derived from City-Data.com's list of the "Top 101 cities with the most people having Doctorate degrees." Because some of the figures in the article seemed to be outdated, going back to 2000, they were combined and cross-referenced with more recent 2010 and 2012 statistics from elsewhere on City-Data.com and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Online PhD Programs is an Internet resource for prospective PhD students interested in completing a doctorate online, with rankings and reviews of online PhD programs in a variety of subjects, information on finding funding for an online doctorate, post-graduate career guides, and more.
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