A new analysis shows that U.S. cities with highly educated populations tend to become even more educated over time. And both Minneapolis and St. Paul make the list.

Consider these points:

• In 2010, Minneapolis ranked 13th and St. Paul 27th for the percent of population with a bachelor's degree. (Minneapolis' overall population rank is 47th and St. Paul's is 67th.)
• The 25 cities with the highest numbers of bachelor's degree holders increased their bachelor's degrees between 2000 and 2010 by 5.3 percentage points. (This includes Minneapolis, which ranked 19th in growth in degrees; St. Paul ranked 30th). The bottom 25 ranked cities (out of 100) increased their bachelor's degrees by just 3.2 percentage points.
• Of the largest cities in 2010, St. Paul ranked 12th and Minneapolis 34th in the number of higher education institutions per capita.

So why does this matter? Having a college degree is an important contributor to economic success. Over a lifetime, most college-educated people out-earn their high school only-educated counterparts. Employers that need a highly-educated workforce also benefit — as do their communities that enjoy lower unemployment rates when their population is well educated. And with our many institutions in the Twin Cities metro area, our residents also have good access to higher education options.

All of these factors contribute to economic health. That's good for the Twin Cities and good for our region.

The list below ranks the cities with the highest number of institutions per capita:

1. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
2. Cincinnati, Ohio
3. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
4. Miami, Florida
5. St. Louis, Missouri
6. Atlanta, Georgia
7. Orlando, Florida
8. Tampa, Florida
9. Kansas City, Missouri
10. Tulsa, Oklahoma
11. Boston, Massachusetts
12. St. Paul, Minnesota
13. Madison, Wisconsin
14. Fort Wayne, Indiana
15. Birmingham, Alabama
16. Spokane, Washington
17. New Orleans, Louisiana
18. Columbus, Ohio
19. Sacramento, California
20. Denver, Colorado
21. Norfolk, Virginia
22. Tacoma, Washington
23. Cleveland, Ohio
24. Lincoln, Nebraska
25. Durham, North Carolina
26. Nashville, Tennessee
27. Portland, Oregon
28. Colorado Springs, Colorado
29. Omaha, Nebraska
30. Winston-Salem, North Carolina
31. Memphis, Tennessee
32. Des Moines, Iowa
33. Lexington, Kentucky
34. Minneapolis, Minnesota
35. Buffalo, New York