So, you’ve arrived to this page and are ready to discover ‘the smartest states in America’. But, before that, we have one question for you – have you ever given a little deeper thought to the term ‘smart’? What does smart really stand for? Is it the same as intelligent? While many people often take the two for synonyms, there does exist a difference between them. Potential for intelligence, as in IQ or logical intelligence, is something inherent, something that we are born with. For some people it is higher, for some not as much, and in the end it seems that intelligence has something to do with whether or not we’ve been born under a lucky star. On the other hand, when it comes to being smart, things seem to be somewhat different – you learn ‘smartness’ throughout your life, and it is an earned status. There are things that you can do in order to become smarter, but what can you do to become more intelligent? Any thoughts? In any case, both of these terms are connected to one important aspect – education. If you are interested in finding out who the smartest people in the world are, check our list of 11 smartest people in the world. Another article that you may be interested to explore is the list of 34 smartest countries in the World.
It is often presumed that only really intelligent people obtain higher education. On the other hand, there is that favorite saying among students: ‘It’s not the smartest ones who graduate, but the most persistent ones’. Even though this pearl can motivate students when they experience difficulties, the truth is that you need all the three features to earn a degree – intelligence, smartness, and persistence. With the right balance, you will earn your degree without any difficulties, and you don’t even need to live in one of the ten smartest states in America.
By now, you’ve probably figured out how we made this list – we chose to rank the states by education. A pure ‘smartness test’ is difficult to come up with, and while intelligence alone could be considered another fairly valid criterion, we would need to conduct many IQ tests in order to properly assess how many high intelligent people are there per state. Also, it seems unfair to dismiss smartness altogether, since it is a quality in which people can progress over time. One final note about the two – high intelligence alone doesn’t guarantee success and happiness, while being smart often does; of course, you need a certain level of intelligence in order to be smart, but you can be intelligent and still not that smart – many intelligent people have trouble with understanding social etiquette, emotions, or non-verbal communication. For this reason, we measure the smartest states in America by the category in which intelligence and smartness come together – higher education. More precisely, we take the percentage of people who have obtained at least a bachelor’s degree, using statistics obtained from the 2009 Census. Come on, take a peek, and find out what are your chances of getting a bachelor degree or a higher education by living in one of the following smartest states in America:
10. Minnesota
Percentage of the people with bachelor’s degree or more: 31,5%
