Amazon Reveals Most Well-Read Cities in the U.S.

Amazon publishes list of cities that purchased the most reading material.

ByABC News
May 27, 2011, 6:56 PM

May 28, 2011— -- Stereotypes about which areas of the United States are "more literate" than others are common, but actual data on the matter was hard to find until Amazon volunteered its records on Thursday.

The company tallied all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format since January 1, 2011, on a per capita basis in cities with more than 100,000 residents.

It found that academic hub Cambridge, Massachusetts, topped the list of cities that purchased the most reading material, as well as the most nonfiction books. Boulder, Colorado, purchased the most material in the Cooking, Food & Wine category. And Florida had the most cities in the general top 20.

Here is the full list of the most well-read cities in the U.S., according to Amazon sales data. Adjust stereotypes accordingly.

1. Cambridge, Massachusetts

2. Alexandria, Virginia

3. Berkeley, California

4. Ann Arbor, Michigan

5. Boulder, Colorado.

6. Miami

7. Salt Lake City, Utah

8. Gainesville, Florida

9. Seattle, Washington

10. Arlington, Virginia

11. Knoxville, Tennessee

12. Orlando, Florida

13. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

14. Washington, D.C.

15. Bellevue, Washington

16. Columbia, South Carolina

17. St. Louis, Missouri

18. Cincinnati, Ohio

19. Portland, Oregon

20. Atlanta, Georgia.