A new report by the American Institute for Economic Research has named San Jose as the top college destination city under 2.5 million people.
Close behind in this "College Destinations Index" are Austin, Texas, and Raleigh, North Carolina.
To help determine the rankings, AIER analyzed 12 different criteria, including a city's cultural concentration, unemployment rate, entrepreneurial activity and median earnings ($42,802 in San Jose, according to the study).
The report counts San Francisco-Oakland and the South Bay as separate markets.
Despite skyrocketing rental prices, as SFGate noted, San Francisco ranked No. 3 on the AIER's list of major metro markets over 2.5 million people, trailing Boston and Washington, DC.
