Community Sarasota and Bradenton Named Among U.S.'s Nerdiest Small Cities

BRADENTON — Real estate brokerage site Movoto caused a minor stir when it ranked the 10 nerdiest cities in America. Let's face it, to some such a distinction is a badge of honor, to others ... not so much. So for fun, the site decided to apply the same formula to small cities in the U.S. (defined as populations of 50-60,000) and both Sarasota and Bradenton made it onto their top 10 nationwide list.

Movoto generated their rankings by analyzing the number of venues for six nerd-favored activities: comic book stores, video game stores, hobby shops, computer stores, bookstores and museums, claiming that "each one represents a different facet of the multifaceted diamond that is the crown of nerdiness."

Sarasota was second on the list, and placed first with its number of bookstores (roughly one store for every 7,500 highly-literate people). SRQ was second in two categories, computer stores and hobby shops. They gave the city bonus point for finding a convention-quality pirate walking a puppy.

Bradenton placed sixth on the list, scoring big points in the hobby shop category, where it placed third out of all 139 cities in the study, not just the others in the top 10. The friendly city has one hobby shop for every 4,223 never-bored people. Our little city also made the top 10 overall for both computer stores and book stores, where it ranked 8th and 9th respectively.

Marietta, GA ranked first on the list, scoring high across the board. View the slideshow below to see the entire list.