The City of Atlanta is famous as a launchpad for global brands (Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines), the birthplace of iconic people (Martin Luther King Jr.), a generally high quality of life (Money magazine’s “best place to live” in 2022), and yes, soul-crushing highway traffic.  

But Atlanta, the South’s capital city, as a hotbed for educated people? Damn right, says Forbes.

In a new report titled “What Are The Most Educated Cities In The U.S.? Top 100 Cities Ranked,” financial website Forbes Advisor anoints Atlanta the leading city in America when it comes to having an educated populace, from high school up to graduate-level degrees from universities.

The study applied to the City of Atlanta itself, and not the metro area. 

Atlanta was the only city in Georgia to make the top 100. (Texas and California, on the other hand, both count 10 cities on that list, and Florida has six.)

See? We're bright. Shutterstock

Forbes Advisor’s team of analysts studied the top 100 cities in the country by population, according to the Census Bureau’s 2021 American Communities Survey. Educational metrics included bachelor’s degree completion rates, graduate degree attainment, and disparities regarding race and gender.

A few numbers in particular pushed Atlanta to the top of Forbes’ rankings.

The study found that nearly 60 percent of the city’s residents over age 25 hold a bachelor’s degree. And more than one in four Atlantans—26.7 percent—have obtained graduate degrees.

Also working in Atlanta’s favor is a relatively low high school dropout rate (5.9 percent) for all residents age 18 and older. (Contrast that against Milwaukee, which Forbes calls the least educated large city in the U.S., with its high school dropout rate of 21.3 percent.)

Analysts also found that about 14 percent of Atlantans over age 25 have at least some college education without a degree, “showing a strong engagement with higher education,” per a study recap.  

Forbes pointed to major universities in the City of Atlanta—Georgia State University, Georgia Tech, and Emory University are all named—as strong contributing factors to the high ranking.

“Atlanta’s impressive educational metrics highlight its role as a leader in academic achievement,” reads a summary provided to Urbanize Atlanta. “With its low dropout rate and high degree attainment, the city sets a standard for educational success.”

But not all findings were sunshine and roses.

Forbes found that Atlanta exhibits a “wide racial gap” when it comes to bachelor’s degree attainment: -22.3 percent.

That metric was determined by subtracting the college completion rates for all students from the college completion rate for only white students. The goal was to show states in which "non-white students faced the biggest obstacles,” per Forbes.

That disparity was the highest among top 10 cities—outside of St. Petersburg, Fla.’s -27.4 percent.

In claiming the top spot on the overall list, Atlanta bested the likes of renowned professional jobs centers and college towns such as Arlington, Va., San Diego, Austin, and Raleigh. 

Here’s the top 10, per Forbes Advisor:

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