with poll: Ann Arbor the fourth 'Most Well-Read' city in America, according to Amazon.com

Posted on Tue, May 15, 2012 : 11:02 a.m.

Pat yourselves on the back, Ann Arbor. You're the fourth "Most Well-Read" city in America.

Or at least online sales numbers suggest you are.

Based on Amazon.com data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format since June 1, 2011, Ann Arbor ranks fourth on a per-capita basis in cities with more than 100,000 residents.

Having a major university within city limits apparently bodes well for being well-read. Four of the top five cities are home to top-tier schools with Boulder, Colo. (University of Colorado) ranked No. 5, Berkeley (University of California, Berkley) at No. 3, Cambridge, Mass. (Harvard, MIT) coming in at No. 2 and of course Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan at No. 4.

Grabbing the top ranking was Alexandria, Va., which is a bit of an outlier among the "college towns" in the top five. Alexandria does, however, boast some of the top private high schools in the Washington D.C. area and is home to many government employees who make the relatively short commute to the nation's capital.

Don't be quick to give politicians too much credit, though. Alexandria was tops in book sales in one category and it wasn't government, politics or foreign policy. It was romance novels.

Amazon.com's Top 20 "Most Well Read" cities in America:

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


Tags: ,

Pete Cunningham can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.

Review our commenting guidelines

Join the discussion