Here’s Illinois’ Ranking On The “Smartest States List”

Historically speaking, it's always been human nature to make fun of people who live in other places, if for no other reason than they live in other places. I'd be willing to bet that every single country on Earth has another country that they like to crack on (I'm looking at you, Canada).

It's true of our 50 states, as well. It's been well documented that residents of one state love to throw out jokes at the expense of another (looking at you, Wisconsin and Iowa), with the favorites being the jokes that needle the other state's residents for being stupid in some way.

So, are some states actually smarter as a whole than other states? Well duh, of course they are. What, are you from Iowa?

Taking A Look At The List Of The Smartest States In The Country, I'm Starting To Think That Maybe Illinois Residents Shouldn't Be Questioning The Intelligence Of Other States

The popular website MentalFloss, in a piece entitled "The 20 Smartest States In The US, Ranked," took a look a recent study that tried to determine where the smartest people in America live. Here's how the results were determined:

To determine the overall smartest states in the U.S., researchers looked at a few key factors, including the number of academic degrees within the area’s population, as well as the average IQ, SAT, and ACT scores of residents.

The good news is that Illinois is among the top 20 smartest states, the bad news is that we just squeaked onto the list.

According To The Study Results, The Brainy States Are, For The Most Part, Out East

That seems to fit. It's been long understood by people on America's east coast that they're much smarter than the rest of the country, especially "fly-over country" that we live in. Just ask them.

Here's the top 20 smartest states list, including Illinois's position. Take note of how many of our Midwestern neighbors are in the top 20 with us (here's a hint--they're not):

1. Massachusetts
2. Connecticut
3. Maryland
4. Virginia
5. Vermont
6. New Hampshire
7. New Jersey
8. Colorado
9. Minnesota
10. Washington
11. New York
12. Maine
13. Utah
14. Kansas
15. Nebraska
16. Pennsylvania
17. Oregon
18. Montana
19. Illinois
20. Rhode Island