US | college America's 20 Smartest Small Towns Where brains and high property values meet By Victoria Floethe Posted Jan 10, 2009 6:59 PM CST Copied Bethesda, Md. attracts brainy folk from state capital Georgetown. (Flickr) See 6 more photos America's brainiest small towns boast high property values and high culture. Forbes lists the nation's smartest: Bethesda, Md.: Nearby Georgetown and the National Institutes of Health draw brainy folk to Bethesda, which has a rate of advanced degrees five times higher than the nation's. Wellesley, Mass.: Home to two private colleges and some of the state's top high schools, Wellesley is just 13 miles from brainy Boston. Palo Alto, Calif.: Palo Alto's scholarly folk, drawn by Stanford University, maintain a median income of $119,000. McLean, Va.: Many officials and politicians are drawn here from nearby Washington, DC. Los Altos, Calif.: Pulls in some of Stanford's tenure-track faculty and probably has even higher property values than Palo Alto. For more enlightened corners, click here. Read These Next One critical island in Iran has remained unscathed in airstrikes. Iran's new supreme leader is said to already have war wounds. For the first time in decades, team pulls out of World Cup. Warning to Trump on Iran: Don't 'get eliminated yourself.' See 6 more photos Report an error