Oh, Boulder. A city of occasional public nudity. A place where an alleged serial diner-dasher is no longer on the loose. Where students became “weird and emotional” over the shuttering of NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (via the Daily Camera). While the first two examples reinforce perceptions that the town is strange, the third shows how geeky it can be. And the geek factor is why The Daily Beast has declared Boulder the “brainiest” city in the United States.

The ranking is the result of “creative class” economist Richard Florida’s most recent numbers crunch for the online magazine, which takes into account the fact that Boulder claims the highest percentage of adults with degrees in science and computer math. Throw in all the other graduate and professional degrees, and Boulder is braintastic.

Sure, the Beast notes, Boulder has a reputation for being a “liberal enclave.” But it is also home to the University of Colorado at Boulder, which boasts some of the best science programs in the nation: “The city is also the base for a number of major science research centers, including the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the Space Science Institute, and the Rocky Mountain Institute.”

Not to be outdone, the Fort Collins-Loveland area also makes the list’s top 20.