Palo Alto and Los Altos Named To Top Ten on Forbes “America’s Most Educated Small Towns”

Image via WikipediaPalo Alto and Los Altos were in the top ten on Forbes list of America’s most educated small towns.  Palo Alto was ranked third and Los Altos was ranked fifth.  Saratoga  also made the list at number sixteen and Cupertino at number eighteen.

Forbes pulled data from the U.S. Census 2005-2007 American Community Survey.  This survey polled over 2,500 regions with 20,000 to 65,000 residents about about their educational attainment.  

Forbes took the number of post high school degrees (associate, bachelor’s, master’s, Ph.D’s and professional degrees) for each town and divided by the number of residents over the age of 25 and then weighted to give a final average for each town.

I was raised in Los Altos with an appreciation for the value of a great education.  My mother was a teacher (professor at San Jose State University).  I was graduated from the Los Altos School District (Oak Elementary and Blach Intermediate School) and the Mountain View/Los Altos High School District, (Awalt High School, now called Mountain View High School).  My wife is a teacher at Terman Middle School in the Palo Alto Unified School District.  My children attend schools within the Los Altos School District (Springer Elementary School and Blach Intermediate School).   

I give you a little of my personal educational background because, like most of the residents of Los Altos (and Palo Alto), my family originally moved to Los Altos because of it’s excellent schools.  As the Forbes article points out, Los Altos (and Palo Alto) residents are highly educated, and as such, want to foster that appreciation for education by making sure that their children also receive a great education.