Amazon Reveals Most Well-Read Cities in the U.S.
Amazon publishes list of cities that purchased the most reading material.
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.