Design
Literacy and the Wealth of Cities
The list of America's Most Literate Cities suggests there's little relationship between literacy and economic development. Our analysis suggests otherwise.
I’m an unabashed fan of lists. I’m not talking about made-up, off-the-top of someone’s head lists, but real data-driven rankings.
That’s why I’ve been so impressed by the America’s Most Literate Cities list. Created back in 2003 by John W. Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University, it parses the relative literacy of America’s 75 largest cities, based on six key indicators: newspaper circulation, magazine and journal circulation, online reading and book purchases, number of bookstores and public libraries.