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PROVO — Continuing its reign at the top of the poll, the Provo-Orem area was ranked the No. 1 community for daily learning on Wednesday.
The Provo-Orem area has been ranked within the top three communities in the U.S. for residents who are learning on a daily basis since Gallup began the poll in 2008, researchers said. The poll asks residents whether or not they learned something "yesterday" — 75.3 percent of Provo-Orem residents responded in the affirmative.
"In general, Gallup research shows that high levels of learning 'yesterday' are one of the factors that set apart communities with high well-being from those with low well-being," researchers wrote. "University towns have previously been among those with high levels of general well-being. Provo-Orem and Boulder, Colorado, were among the communities with the five highest Well-Being Index scores in 2012-2013, while Charleston, West Virginia. was among the lowest.
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Boulder closely followed the Provo-Orem area with 75.2 percent of residents reporting they learned something yesterday.
Nationally, the majority of Americans said they learned something new the day before they were asked, with 64 percent responding in the affirmative. Researchers said those living in communities with populations of at least 1 million people were more likely to report daily learning.
"This could be because the largest communities are often home to large universities, colleges, museums, and other cultural activities that encourage residents' daily learning," the researchers wrote. "Or it could simply reflect the interests, backgrounds, and demographic characteristics of the people who choose to live in big cities as opposed to smaller communities."
The results of the survey were based on phone interviews conducted between January 2012 and December 2013.
Top 10 communities for self-reported daily learning:
- Provo-Orem, Utah: 75.3 percent
- Boulder, Colorado: 75.2 percent
- Gainesville, Florida: 74.4 percent
- San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, California: 73.3 percent
- Medford, Oregon: 73 percent
- Tallahassee, Florida: 72 percent
- Fort Collins-Loveland, Colorado: 71.8 percent
- Lancaster, Pennsylvania: 71.8 percent
- Bellingham, Washington: 71.3 percent
- Austin-Round Rock, Texas: 71.1 percent Bottom 10 communities for self-reported daily learning: 1. Charleston, West Virginia: 52.1 percent
- Kingsport-Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia: 54.5 percent
- Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas: 55.1 percent
- Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio/Pennsylvania: 56.4 percent
- Hagerstown-Martinsburg, Maryland/West Virginia: 56.6 percent
- Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, New York: 56.7 percent
- Stockton, California: 57 percent
- Lakeland-Winter Haven, Florida: 57.3 percent
- Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pennsylvania/New Jersey: 58 percent
- Fayetteville, North Carolina: 58.1 percent