Washington D.C. Named America’s Most Literate City in 2010

By Maryann Yin 

connecticut.jpgCentral Connecticut State University (CCSU) has released the annual list of America’s Most Literate Cities. Washington D.C. topped the list, knocking last year’s winner (Seattle) to second place. New York City was ranked 26th on the list.

Since 2003, the annual study has measured the literary health of American cities with a population of 250,000 or more. The rankings examine six categories: bookstores, educational attainment, internet resources, library resources, newspaper circulation, and periodical publication.

CCSU president Dr. John W. Miller wrote the report,  noting two sad trends: “At the beginning of this survey, in 2003, newspapers in America’s larger cities had a weekday circulation equivalent to 55 percent of the population of the cities; Sunday circulation was 75 percent. Now, on average, less than one third read a weekday paper and less than half read a Sunday paper … In some otherwise strongly literate cities, the [bookstore] change is even more dramatic. Boston, for example, has gone from 9 per 10,000 in 2003 to 3 per 10,000; and Minneapolis, perennially in the top 3 of the overall rankings, has gone from 14 to 6 per 10,000.” (Via USA Today)