If you're looking for work in higher education, Boston may be the place to go.

The Boston metropolitan area ranked first in the nation and among the country's largest metro areas for having the highest industry concentration of employment in private colleges and universities, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics report on 2006 data.

It had a location quotient of 3.63, meaning the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy area was three and a half times as great as that of the United States as a whole for having higher education jobs.

No other major metro area came close to that concentration. Second was Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, with about 2.5 times the nation for higher ed jobs. The national location quotient is always 1.0. Three other areas that beat that mark for higher ed employment, at 1.5, or one and a half times the national national concentration, were Chicago, Washington and New York.

Boston keeps many people employed and adding to its economy. The Boston metro area has more than 80 private colleges and universities employing 68,600 people and with more than 360,000 students. Workers there also make more money than other private industries in the area, according to the full Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

Job growth in the nation from 1990 to 2006 was 24.1%, while growth in colleges and university employment was 42.4%. In Massachusetts, employment gains in higher education were almost double the overall percentage growth in the private sector, 19.5% for higher ed compared with 9.9% in the private sector.