New Jersey is the ‘smartest’ state in America – yes, really
The Garden State is full of bookworms!
New Jersey is the “smartest” state in the US — beating out New York and other areas supposedly packed with high-achieving brainiacs, according to a new study that centers on Census data.
The Big Apple’s underrated neighbor ranked the No. 1 most intelligent, based on a formula that considers the percentage of adults with college degrees and high school diplomas, along with the highest median SAT scores.
Roughly 24 percent of New Jersey residents have a bachelor’s degree and 91 percent are high school grads — far more than the Empire State as a whole, according to the study by Safehome.org, which researches home and personal safety.
It shows the state’s median SAT score last year was 1,090, and that 64 percent of ACT takers “met benchmarks.”
By contrast, New York ranked near the bottom of the smartest states list at No. 32.
The report offered no reason for why the land best known for less-than-academic types like Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino and Tony Soprano is teeming with smarties.
Utah was second-brightest and Massachusetts came in third. Idaho residents are the dumbest, according to the study, which also analyzed US Department of Education data and test scores from the College Board.
The ranking formula “weighted educational attainment [more] than test scores” and assigned the most value to college degrees.
Overall, the Northeast region of the country ranked brighter than the West Coast.