Not too many weeks go by when I don’t get an email from some click-bait hungry website telling me that their team of experts have just placed Newton on one of their ranking lists.  Almost always, I ignore them because, for one, these lists have become as common as  lawn signs during an override and, two, it’s never really clear who these experts are.

But today was curious because first I received this from a company called “Zippia,” announcing that Newton is the 4th smartest city in the state…

It’s Drew from Zippia — a website dedicated to providing career insights for recent college grads.

We analyzed every city in Massachusetts for college education and high school dropout rates to rank the “Smartest Cities,” and Newton is #4:

https://www.zippia.com/massachusetts-jobs/#smartest-cities-in-massachusetts

Thought it would make for an interesting story.

and then a hour later this from “WalletHub” informing us that Newton was the 4th Worst College City in America…

With application season in full gear and college living costs reaching $24,980 per student for nine to 12 months, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2018’s Best & Worst College Towns & Cities in America as a follow-up on its College & University Rankings.
 
To help college-bound high school seniors determine their future home for the next several years, WalletHub compared more than 400 U.S. cities – also grouped by city size – based on 28 key indicators of academic, social and economic growth potential. The data set ranges from cost of living to quality of higher education to crime rate…. Newton ranks No. 412 overall and No. 199 among small size cities.

For the full report, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-college-cities-and-towns-in-america/8974/