Lowell one of the "Geekiest Cities" in the USA

I heard Jack Baldwin and Mike Flynn on 980WCAP talking this morning about this news item and felt I should share it here. Forbes has just released a list created by the US National Science Foundation that lists the top 20 "Geekiest" cities in America. Our own Lowell, MA placed 6th on the list. The report defines “geeks” as any worker with a bachelor’s level of knowledge and education in science or engineering-related fields or workers in occupations that require some degree of technical knowledge or training. There is a slide show of the winners on this list available here. From the description of why Lowell was chosen:

14.1 % of the workforce, 16,580 workers employed...Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford area has attracted a number of technology companies, including Kronos, Inc., Jabil Circuit, and Juniper Networks.

The full list:

1. San Jose, CA

2. Boulder, CO

3. Framingham, MA

4. Huntsville, AL

5. Durham, NC

6. Lowell, MA

7. Washington, D.C.

8. Ithaca, NY

9. Bethesda, MD

10. Seattle-Bellevue, WA

11. Kennewick-Pasco, WA

12. Austin-Round Rock, TX

13. Ames, IA

14. Palm Bay-Titusville, FL

15. Boston, MA

16. Ann Arbor, MI

17. Bloomington-Normal, IL

18. Olympia, WA

19. San Francisco, CA

20. Fort Walton Beach, FL

A surprising omission to this list, as noted by Jack Baldwin, is Cambridge MA. Though three of the ten cities chosen are in Massachusetts. There is also a strong showing as you might expect from the Silicon Valley and the Evergreen State.