Education is one of the most important determinants of economic success, a fact that the recent economic downturn brought into sharp relief. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has shown that better-educated segments of the population have significantly lower unemployment rates than the population at large.

A U.S. News analysis of Census data shows that Boulder, Colo., Ann Arbor, Mich., and Washington, D.C., are at the top of the list of the nation's most-educated cities. The ranking takes into account the shares of the population 25 years of age and older with post-secondary degrees, weighted by the length of time often required to obtain those various degrees.