Grand Rapids ranks as 73rd 'most-educated' metro in US

When it comes to an educated population, the Grand Rapids metro falls squarely in the middle of a new ranking.

The Grand Rapids-Wyoming metropolitan statistical area, or MSA, ranks 73rd in the ranking of the “Most and Least Educated Cities in America” by the personal finance website WalletHub.

The report released on Tuesday compared the 150 most-populous MSAs in the U.S. across nine key metrics in two categories: educational attainment and quality of education and attainment gap.

Michigan metros

Ann Arbor leads the field at No. 1, Lansing-East Lansing ranks 14th, Detroit-Warren-Dearborn ranks 78th and Flint ranks 128th.

Grand Rapids’ total score is 48.31; its educational attainment rank is 61 and its quality of education and attainment gap rank is 107, for an overall rank of 73.

Ann Arbor’s total score is 95.09; it ranks first overall, first in educational attainment and first in quality of education and attainment gap.

Top 10

1. Ann Arbor

2. Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria

3. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California

4. Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina

5. Madison, Wisconsin

6. Boston-Cambridge-Newton Massachusetts/New Hampshire

7. Provo-Urem, Utah

8. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California

9. Austin-Round Rock, Texas

10. Tallahassee, Florida

Bottom 10

141. Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas

142. Lafayette, Louisiana

143. Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, North Carolina

144. Salinas, California

145. Fresno, California

146. Modesto, California

147. Bakersfield, California

148. Visalia-Porterville, California

149. Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas

150. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas