Houses and palm trees in San Jose, California. Undated photo. (Getty Images)

According to a new study from WalletHub, two California metropolitan areas are among the top 10 “most educated cities” in the country, while several cities in the Golden State land at the bottom of the list.

The financial services company compared the 150 most populous cities in the United States and rated them using a formula that took into account the proportion of adults with high school and college degrees and the quality of the public education system.

Differences between races and genders were also taken into account.

For the second year in a row, Ann Arbor, Michigan, took first place, followed by California's San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan area.

“The San Jose metropolitan area is the second most educated region in America, and residents have high levels of aspirations for higher education,” notes WalletHub. “Over 54% of adults ages 25 and older have at least a bachelor's degree, and over 26% have a college or professional degree. San Jose also ranks first in the country in terms of university quality, and also offers the fourth most summer learning opportunities per capita.”

San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley fell two places to 6th.^thLos Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim climbed seven places to 87th.^th.

The 10 cities with the highest educational density in the USA (Source: WalletHub)

1. Ann Arbor, Michigan
2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California
3. Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV
4. Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina
5. Madison, Wisconsin
6. San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, California
7. Raleigh-Cary, NC
8. Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX
9. Boston–Cambridge–Newton, MA–NH
10. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington

On the other hand, several cities in California's agricultural areas, particularly in the Central Valley, fared poorly on WalletHub's list. Visalia came in at the very bottom of the list. Bakersfield ranked 147th.^thModesto 146^thStockton 145^thSalinas 142^and and Fresno 140^th.

Other rankings for California

• 23. San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, California
• 49. Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, California
• 52. Santa Rosa-Petaluma, California
• 64. Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, California
• 92. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California
• 121. Vallejo, California
• 137. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California
• 140. Fresno, California
• 142. Salinas, California
• 145. Stockton, California
• 146. Modesto, California
• 147. Bakersfield, California
• 150. Visalia, California

Stephanie Helms Pickett, director of equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging at Antioch University and an expert for WalletHub, believes communities should examine how the public education system supports their local economy.

“Our country's education model does not take into account the different ways people learn, the way they process information, and the ways that best fit not only their interests but their abilities,” says Pickett. “The most important step we can take as a country to build a better educated and skilled workforce is a partnership between higher education and industry — engaging local businesses in anticipating the skills needed and training people to meet that need.”