(FORTUNE Magazine) – Iowa City, Iowa--hardly famous as an intellectual capital--has a higher percentage of college graduates than any other city in the U.S., as measured by Moran Stahl & Boyer, a consulting firm specializing in business location selection. Many of the grad-heavy cities are in the Midwest, largely because they're near major state universities. People come for college and stay because of the low cost of living and abundance of jobs. Other smart cities: Washington, D.C., and San Francisco have lots of white-collar jobs, as do Connecticut's Stamford and Danbury. "Companies dependent on formally educated employees might do best in these locations," says MS&B consultant Will Hearn.

--Anne Faircloth

BEST EDUCATED % of population with City four-year college degree

1. Iowa City, Iowa 20.0% 2. Champaign, Ill. 17.8% 3. Stamford, Conn. 17.6% 4. Bloomington, Ind. 17.2% 4. Bryan, Texas 17.2% 6. Gainesville, Fla. 17.0% 7. Lawrence, Kan. 16.7% 8. Boulder, Colo. 16.4% 9. Columbia, Mo. 16.2% 10. Santa Fe 15.8% 10. Washington, D.C. 15.8% 12. Charlottesville, Va. 14.9% 13. Danbury, Conn. 13.8% 14. Madison, Wis. 13.5% 15. San Francisco 12.8%

FORTUNE TABLE / SOURCE: MORAN STAHL & BOYER