• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, July 3, 2025

As a long-time New Yorker with at least some cognitive functioning, I never thought of New York as one of the most ill-informed cities in the nation. 

But that’s what it is based on daily news consumption, if you believe a new report from SmartNews.  

New York ranks No. 974 on the list of the smartest cities in this way, Los Angeles 923, and Chicago 912. The smartest city? A Kansas town with 11,260 residents. 

This research “shatters the long-held belief that the largest cities in America have the smartest people,” says Jason Alderman of SmartNews. “We have found that deeply curious, thoughtful, and intelligent Americans who spend more time reading the news live in smaller communities.”  

One might question the methodology. These findings are based on the time spent per capita viewing news in the SmartNews app in the first quarter of 2025. 

It’s not clear if there’s a political skew to this. But the results might reflect the growing number of news deserts throughout the country.  

“Far from being insular, these smaller communities are made up of the most engaged news consumers who stay up-to-date locally, nationally, and globally at an astonishing rate.”

They may have to be highly engaged to keep up with the news at all. But urban consumers have access to the same sort of apps.

Here’s the top-ten list. Please don’t be upset if you’re from one of the big metropolises:

• Haysville, Kansas
• Valley Center, California
• Green Valley, Arizona
• Cottage Grove, Minnesota
• Sequim, Washington
• Port Orchard, Washington
• Hutchinson, Kansas
• Grants Pass, Oregon
• Sun City, Arizona
• Ames, Iowa

Congratulations if you live or work in one of them.