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Saturday, April 27, 2013

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the 9th Best City for Nerds in America

San Jose has just been proclaimed the 9th nerdiest city by Movoto, a real estate site. How did they calculate this? Here are the metrics that were used:

  • Number of annual comic book, video game, anime, and sci-fi / fantasy conventions
  • People per comic book store
  • People per video game store
  • People per traditional gaming store
  • People per computer store
  • People per bookstore
  • People per LARPing group
  • People per science museum
  • Distance to the nearest Renaissance faire

Based on the data, here are the 10 Best Cities for Nerds:

1.) Atlanta, GA
2.) Portland, OR
3.) Seattle, WA
4.) Sacramento, CA
5.) Minneapolis, MN
6.) Boston, MA
7.) Las Vegas, NV
8.) Miami, FL
9.) San Jose, CA
10.) Denver, CO

San Jose also ranked #1 for number of computer stores per capita. We have a computer store for every 1,991 people. Also, I have to say that I think San Jose should have ranked way, way higher in the list. I think the SVBJ would also agree, but I am going to focus on the metrics above.

1.) Distance to the nearest Renaissance Faire:  I am guessing they used the Faire in the Gilroy area; however, there is a brand new Downtown San Jose Renaissance Faire along the Guadalupe River 0 miles from the center of San Jose.
2.) People per computer stores: okay we ranked #1 here, but I think we would have gotten some bonus points if square footage was taken into consideration. Fry's should count as 50 electronics stores in other cities =)
3.) People per video game store: same as #2. We have the flagship Gamestop on Stevens Creek that hosts video game competitions and is the size of three or four stores.
4.) People per bookstores: who buys physical books anymore? Most people in Silicon Valley have kindles or tablets to read on, likely at a much higher rate than other cities. Digital sales should be taken into consideration.
5.) Jobs for nerds should also be a metric. Look at how many tech/engineering jobs there are for nerds in the area. I'm sure San Jose would kill the rankings here (and looking at available jobs makes sense for a real estate site).

Hope we do better in the rankings next year!

Source: Movoto (thanks Nick for the tip)

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