Smart Or Stupid States: Here’s The Category Illinois Lands In

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?

How can you tell when it's prom season in Iowa? Every McDonald's parking lot is full of tractors! (Getty Images)

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.

Much smarter than a ladder. (Getty Images)

At least the ambulance will know what street to look for. (Getty Images)

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):