Boulder, Fort Collins and Denver, CO share something in common, other than statehood. All three are in the top 10 of Bloomberg’s Brain Concentration Index. The index tracks business formation, employment and education in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. Boulder topped the list, while Fort Collins and Denver were at Nos. 4 and 10, respectively. Other cities on the list included San Francisco and San Jose, as well as Seattle and Raleigh/Durham, NC.

Meanwhile, cities making it on the “Worst Ten” of the Brain Drain Index included Muskegon, MI, Altoona, PA and Lima, OH. Muskegon is trying to prevent the departure of its STEM students through a program that provides two years of free college tuition to local high school students with grade-point averages of 3.5 and above.

“Today, because of these new programs, we’re starting to see the turnaround, and hopefully the data will reflect that,” said Cindy Larsen with the Muskegon Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce.

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