Amazon has just released their annual list of the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities across the U.S., just in time for summer reading season. The ranking is determined by a compilation of sales data from cities with more than 500,000 residents on a per capita basis and includes purchases of all books, magazines and newspapers in both Kindle and print format from April 2015 to April 2016.
The Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities are:
1. Seattle, Wash.
2. Portland, Ore.
3. Washington, D.C.
4. San Francisco, Calif.
5. Austin, Texas
6. Las Vegas, Nev.
7. Tucson, Ariz.
8. Denver, Colo.
9. Albuquerque, N.M.
10. San Diego, Calif.
11. Baltimore, Md.
12. Charlotte, N.C.
13. Louisville, Ky.
14. San Jose, Calif.
15. Houston, Texas
16. Nashville, Tenn.
17. Chicago, Ill.
18. Indianapolis, Ind.
19. Dallas, Texas
20. San Antonio, Texas
Amazon took a closer look at the data and uncovered some interesting trends across the cities, revealing:
- Seattle, Wash., the home of Amazon’s headquarters, kept its title as the Most Well-Read City for the second year in a row with the most purchases of all books, magazines and newspapers in both Kindle and print formats.
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins was the top-selling Kindle and print title in five of the top 10 cities: Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; Tucson, Ariz.; Albuquerque, N.M.; San Diego, Calif.
- Readers in four of the top 10 cities cleaned up their act this year, with The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing as the most sold print title in Seattle, Wash.; San Francisco, Calif.; Tucson, Ariz.; Albuquerque, N.M.
- In Austin, Texas, reading and cooking go hand in hand, with Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto among the top-selling Kindle and print titles.
- California is for bookworms, with three cities making the top 20 list for the second year in a row: San Francisco, San Diego, and San Jose.
- Denver, Colo., Las Vegas, Nev., San Diego, Calif., and Albuquerque, N.M. all channeled their inner child this year, with adult coloring books being among the top-selling print titles in each of the cities.
- What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, with Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian (Fifty Shades of Grey Series) as the top-selling Kindle title in Las Vegas, Nev.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
