Best-read cities

The one that surprises me is Miami at no. 6. I would not have figured St. Louis for a spot in the top twenty best-read, either.

These are individual cities, not Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs), so ones with relatively big university populations will have an advantage. If it was SMSAs, then I'd guess the Wash, D.C. SMSA would be tops, because Washington, Alexandria, and Arlington are all separately on the list.

If you're going to compare cities, it would be better to put cities over 250,000 population in a separate category. No city of much size can possibly compete with Cambridge, Berkeley, Ann Arbor, Boulder, etc., where university populations are such a large segment of the total.

Byron



Amazon.com Reveals the Most Well-Read Cities in America

Cambridge, Mass., tops the list with the most books, magazines and newspapers purchased per capita of any city in the United States

SEATTLE, May 26, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

(NASDAQ: AMZN)--Just in time for the summer reading season, 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.    11. Knoxville, Tenn.
2. Alexandria, Va.     12. Orlando, Fla.
3. Berkeley, Calif.    13. Pittsburgh
4. Ann Arbor, Mich.    14. Washington, D.C.
5. Boulder, Colo.      15. Bellevue, Wash.
6. Miami               16. Columbia, S.C.
7. Salt Lake City      17. St. Louis, Mo.
8. Gainesville, Fla.   18. Cincinnati
9. Seattle             19. Portland, Ore.
10. Arlington, Va.     20. Atlanta