Cleveland-Elyria Metro Area Among Nation's 'Least Educated' Areas

CLEVELAND, OH — The Cleveland metro area ranked near the bottom among the nation’s “most educated” cities, according to a personal finance website’s tabulations.

Cleveland-Elyria Rock was ranked No. 173 among the country's most-educated cities, according to a ValuePenguin study. Cleveland was panned for the particularly low quality of its local public schools and universities.

California led the list with the No. 1 entry of the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area. The Golden State was well represented in the high rankings of the tally, with two metro areas in the top five “most educated.”

Rounding out the top five were: Boulder, Colo.; San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Ann Arbor, Michigan.

In its reckoning, ValuePenguin examined four key categories in achieving its list:

• Attainment: The percentage of 25-and-older population to reach a specific level of education (i.e. high school, college and beyond).
• Education and Poverty: The percentage of 25-and-older population whose poverty status is determined by a specific level of education.
• School Quality: The ratings of primary and secondary schools as well as universities, according to two survey-based sources.
• Education and Employment: The percentage of 25-and-older population who are employed, according to their specific levels of education.

Here's how Cleveland fared:

• Attainment: 104
• Education and poverty: 113
• School Quality: 185
• Education and employment: 65