A new in The Atlantic by the noted demographic analyst Richard Florida not only showed that Boulder has one of the nation’s highest concentrations of brainy people, it also slipped in, at the very end, a graphic showing that we’re the happiest. Quote:

And brainier metros tend to have happier populations. The correlation between the Brainiest Metros Index and Gallup’s measure of metropolitan happiness and well-being is .566.

And check out where Boulder sits on the accompanying graphic that charts braininess against residents’ professed sense of well-being (red arrow added by me):

Some additional charts in the article show where Boulder ranks on a variety of other measures such as braininess versus income (we don’t do as well on that one). They’re well worth looking at if you’d like to be reassured that there’s major brainpower all around.

Read “Where the Super-Brains Are” in The Atlantic. 
 

Other articles by Bob Wells

• Flagstaff tree thinning: threat level still high - May 20th, 2011
• Is the tree-thinning orgy winding down yet? - May 16th, 2011
• Why we cancelled all the newspapers - March 25th, 2011
• Dogs versus cats - March 8th, 2011
• Elk in the shadow of Red Rocks - March 8th, 2011
• Getting ready for collapse with "food localization" - March 1st, 2011
• Live coverage from Cairo - January 28th, 2011
• World enviro-day draws scant Boulder crowd - October 11th, 2010
• A sun-splashed bash to dedicate CU's big new Visual Arts Complex - September 24th, 2010
• Weekend of thanks - September 19th, 2010