The 15 most educated towns in New Jersey, ranked

The Garden State is pretty brainy, and not just because it’s home to some really good colleges in the country.

About 23.4% of its residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In comparison, 19.1 percent of the country has similar educational qualifications.

However, the division of higher education is not even across the state.

Wealthier towns stand out with a greater percentage of residents who have finished some form of college, which tracks both the high cost of higher education, as well as the greater earning power of people with degrees.

Here are the 15 towns that are home to the most residents with bachelor’s degrees or higher.

A note about the data: Ranking based on educational attainment of population age 25 years and above according to the latest American Community Survey by the Census Bureau. The ranking only includes towns with populations above 10,000, as lower population areas tend to skew rates and have high margins of error. Towns where the margin of error was higher than 10 percent were also excluded.

15. Millburn, Essex County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 35.3

14. Bernards, Somerset County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 35.5

13. South Brunswick, Middlesex County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 36

12. Sparta, Sussex County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 36.4

11. Livingston, Essex County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 36.5

10. Fort Lee, Bergen County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 36.5

9. Montclair, Essex County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 36.7

8. Plainsboro, Middlesex County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 36.8

7. Westfield, Union County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 37

6. South Orange, Essex County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 37.2

5. Robbinsville, Mercer County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 37.7

4. Wyckoff, Bergen County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 38.7

3. Ridgewood, Bergen County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 39.8

2. Ramsey, Bergen County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 40.3

1. Hoboken, Hudson County

Percent with bachelor’s degree and above: 50.2

Disha Raychaudhuri may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @Disha_RC.