The Eau Claire/La Crosse area ranks 23rd in a study of America's Brainiest Cities conducted by Richard Florida, founder of the Creative Class Group.
The study used a new metric developed by Lumos Labs, and is based on brain performance and cognitive capacity.
To measure the smartest cities, scientists tracked more than a million individuals and rated them in five areas: memory, processing speed, flexibility, attention, and problem solving. The information was then linked with education attainment, knowledge, and creative work.
According to Lumosity's metrics, below is a list of America's 25 brainiest metros:
1. Charlottesville, Virginia
2. Lafayette, Indiana
3. Anchorage Alaska
4. Madison, Wisconsin
5. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, California
6. Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Iowa City & Dubuque, Iowa
7. Honolulu, Hawaii
8. Johnstown-Altoona, Pennsylvania
9. Champaign & Springfield-Decatur, Illinois
10. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
11. Boston-Manchester (Massachusetts/New Hampshire)
12. Austin, Texas
13. Rochester, New York
14. Gainesville, Florida
15. Fargo-Valley City North Dakota
16. Lansing, Michigan
17. Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-San Luis Obispo
18. Burlington-Plattsburgh (Vermont/New York)
19. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
20. Syracuse, New York
21. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
22. Columbia-Jefferson City, Missouri
23. La Crosse-Eau Claire, Wisconsin
24. Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York Pennsylvania
25. Springfield-Holyoke, Massachusett
