Provo was ranked the fourth most educated city in the nation in a study conducted by the personal finance website Wallethub.com.
Provo followed No. 1 Ann Arbor, Michigan, No. 2 Raleigh, North Carolina, and No. 3 Durham, North Carolina. Provo’s education level and quality of education scores were combined to get the overall ranking that put it in the No. 4 spot.
“We value education here on the Wasatch Front,” Provo Deputy Mayor Corey Norman said. “Children are taught at a young age that there is a value in education.”
Provo also ranked fourth in the nation for the percentage of high school diploma holders, according to the study.
“I think that our culture puts a high priority on education,” Provo High School Principal Karen Brown said. “There is a lot of parent involvement in our area, which is the number-one factor for students’ success.”
Jill Gonzales, the spokeswoman of WalletHub.com, said Provo did well and came in second overall with the number of adults who had an associate degree.
The study measured the education level of the city by looking at the percentage of residents with high school diplomas as well as the percentage of residents with associate degrees or higher. The numbers of doctors per capita was also a consideration, as well as residents with jobs in the computer science, engineering and science fields.
The quality of education was measured by looking at the ranking of the public school systems and the average quality of universities in the area.
WalletHub analyzed the top 150 metropolitan statistical cities in the nation to determine where educated individuals were choosing to settle down.
Salt Lake City was ranked 46th overall, with a quality of education ranking of 74 and education level ranking of 36. Ogden was ranked 89th, with a quality of education ranking of 132 and an educational level ranking of 47.
“Education in Provo is about a quality of life, and we have an entrepreneurial spirit,” Norman said.
