CNN Money reports that the U.S. Census Bureau has released a list of the “brainiest cities in America” based on education rankings.  If you equate education with intelligence, then the smartest city in the United States is Seattle - 52.7 percent of its residents age 25 or older have completed a bachelor's degree or higher.

Second to Seattle for the percentage of residents holding bachelor's degrees is San Francisco, a center for high-tech and financial services. Raleigh, N.C., with its amalgam of great research universities and high-tech companies, tied San Francisco for second place for holders of bachelor's degrees and was seventh for advanced degrees, with 16.7 percent of residents holding one. New York cracks the top 25 list at No. 20 and is No. 19 for advanced degrees.  See where your city ranks in its braininess. 

My question is, is it good or bad for your job prospects to live in one of the brainiest cities?  On the one hand, brainy cities attract large corporations for the same reason they attract educated workers – a plethora of industry, good living conditions, access to amenities and culture, and ease of transportation. Seattle’s a prime example: companies headquartered there include Microsoft, Amazon, and Costco. 

But this is a double-edge sword.  Brainy cities have more employers and so they technically have more job openings, but because so many educated people want to live there, there’s also much more competition for the best jobs.  Might you be better off job hunting in a less brainy city, where your resume and experience will stand out in a select pool of employers?