It’s no mystery that metro areas with strong college networks have, by extension, a sturdy economic base for the local housing markets, and a new analysis has found that with only one exception, Boston’s educational infrastructure is the second strongest in the nation.

According to some number crunching over at CityLab, colleges in the Greater Boston area boost alumni salaries by an average of $11,804. That was the second highest in the nation, with only the San Jose area ranking higher.

Here is the full top 10:

1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ($13,422 value added)
2. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy ($11,804)
3. Denver-Aurora-Broomfield ($10,985)
4. Salt Lake City ($10,861)
5. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria ($9,881)
6. Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford ($9,124)
7. Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville ($8,819)
8. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington ($8,614)
9. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island ($8,280)
10. Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale ($8,159)

Those statistics go a long way in explaining why the Greater Boston housing market remains so strong, especially the area’s urban markets. Complementary research has found that the average college graduate spends $278,000 more on local goods and services over their lifetime, and $44,000 on state and local taxes – which only further support, of course, future education opportunities.

Photo Credit: Ingfbruno, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USA-Harvard_University_Yard1.jpg