Much as it pains our Queen City-bleeding hearts to say this, if the world relied on lists to determine the best cities in North Carolina, Charlotte wouldn't even be a contender.
Raleigh, Asheville and Durham beat us again, this time in a ranking of the most-educated metropolitans in the U.S. Using nine metrics, including the level of education of workers in a city and the kinds and qualities of universities in the near vicinity, WalletHub deemed Raleigh and Durham the second- and third-most educated cities of 150. Asheville wasn't far behind.
Sitting proudly at No. 73? Charlotte.
The site lists two reports as inspiration: the Economic Policy Institute's on the effects of education on state finances and a recent one from the Treasury and Education departments that links accessible high-quality education to expanding job opportunities. Charlotte ranked high in cities with the lowest average quality of top universities.
The good news? We're smarter than Hickory!