Lawrence has landed on a prestigious list of best small communities for businesses and careers.

Forbes magazine on Wednesday ranked Lawrence No. 5 on its 2015 list of Best Small Cities for Business and Careers. The magazine noted Lawrence’s highly educated workforce was a factor in the city being named to the list. The magazine called it “one of the most educated labor forces in the U.S.” with 50 percent of adults holding a college degree and 95 percent holding a high school diploma. The college degree ranking was third best among small metro areas, and the high school diploma percentage was second best in the country.

The study examined 201 metro areas with populations below 260,500. Forbes looked at statistics related to crime, past and projected job growth, cost of living, income growth, quality of life, education and several other factors.

Lawrence was the only city in the region to make the top 5. The Village, Fla., took the top spot, while Lafayette, Ind., ranked No. 2, Sioux Falls, S.D., No. 3, and Bend, Ore., No. 4.

In Kansas, Manhattan ranked No. 29 and Topeka ranked No. 125.

Lawrence Chamber of commerce CEO Larry McElwain said it was great for Lawrence to be recognized by Forbes.

With Kansas, Baker and Haskell universities, Douglas County obviously is rich with higher education graduates, but the Forbes ranking and stats about the local workforce are a reminder that other types of education are of great value, too, McElwain said.

He said the soon-to-open Peaslee Tech and Lawrence College and Career Center are steps to embrace that even more.

“I think it’s incumbent upon The Chamber to help create a whole array of jobs that help us with these highly educated workers, and that’s really what we’re doing,” McElwain said. “We’re trying to bring in different kinds of jobs, from the manufacturing to the bioscience to the call centers and all the things in between.”

David Gaston, executive director of the Kansas University Career Center, said his office helps students develop their own job search plans and that many students do want to stay in this area.

“Lawrence is a great place to live and we do have a high percent of people with college degrees that live here and would love to stay here,” Gaston said. “I think that should be very enticing to businesses and companies that want to come to the area.”

— Reporter Sara Shepherd contributed to this story.