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Forbes: Grand Rapids is nation’s #4 smartest city

Posted at 10:42 AM, Nov 26, 2014
and last updated 2014-11-26 10:42:01-05

NEW YORK — Forbes magazine recently posted a list of the top ten smartest cities in the U.S.

The Grand Rapids-Wyoming area was #4.

How does a city become ‘smart’?

In the Forbes post, contributors Joel Kotkin and Mark Schill said they looked at ” growth rate in the number of residents with at least a bachelor’s degree from 2000 through 2013,” giving some statistics more weight than others.

The numbers were interesting: there are 92.7 percent more college-educated adults living in the Grand Rapids area now than in 2000. And 30.6 percent of the population is college educated, up from 22.7 percent in 2000.

In a Facebook post taking note of the Forbes article, Grand Valley State University noted that “of Grand Valley’s 92,000 alumni, nearly half are living or working in West Michigan