Amazon Reveals Most Well Read cities in US

Submitted by lalit on May 26, 2011 - 2:43pm.

Amazon.com announced its list of the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America. After compiling sales data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format since Jan. 1, 2011, on a per capita basis in cities with more than 100,000 residents, the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities are:

  1. Cambridge, Mass.
  2. Alexandria, Va.
  3. Berkeley, Calif.
  4. Ann Arbor, Mich.
  5. Miami
  6. Salt Lake City
  7. Gainesville, Fla.
  8. Seattle
  9. Arlington, VA.
  10. Knoxville, Tenn.
  11. Orlando, Fla.
  12. Pittsburgh
  13. Washington, D.C.
  14. Bellevue, Wash.
  15. Columbia, S.C.
  16. St. Louis, Mo.
  17. Cincinnati
  18. Portland, Ore.
  19. Atlanta

In taking a closer look at the data, Amazon.com also found that:

  • Not only do they like to read, but they like to know the facts: Cambridge, Mass.--home to the prestigious Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology--also topped the list of cities that ordered the most nonfiction books.
  • Boulder, Colo., lives up to its reputation as a healthy city by topping the list of cities that order the most books in the Cooking, Food & Wine category.
  • Alexandria, Va., residents must be reading a lot of bedtime stories - they topped the list of the city that orders the most children's books.
  • Summer reading weather all year long? Florida was the state with the most cities in the Top 20, with Miami, Gainesville and Orlando making the list.