America's Most literate cities

[question everything]

This is the overall ranking for each city. A total score was tallied for each city across six different literacy categories: Booksellers; Educational attainment; Internet Resources; Library Resources; Newspaper Circulation; and Periodical publications. All categories were compared against the city's total population. See "Rank by Category" for more detailed results.

Seattle, WA. . . . . . . . . . . 1
Minneapolis, MN. . . . . . . . 2
Washington, DC. . . . . . . . 3
Atlanta, GA. . . . . . . . . . . 4
San Francisco, CA. . . . . . . 5
Denver, CO. . . . . . . . . . . 6
Boston, MA. . . . . . . . . . . 7
Pittsburgh, PA. . . . . . . . . 8
Cincinnati, OH. . . . . . . . . 9.5
St. Paul, MN. . . . . . . . . . 9.5


(Way to go, Twin Cities!)

http://www.ccsu.edu/AMLC/Overall_Rankings/Top10.htm

[bammertheblue]

1. Hell yeah!

Minneapolis AND DC in the top 3!
(Although my hometown is Duluth and not MPLS, still kickass).
DC is where I live now and I love it!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. NYC is 32? I think I smell something

rotten.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

52. Not necessarily

Although there are parts of NYC with fine libraries, bookstores, and cultural institutions, there are also parts that have near Third World living conditions.

[USA_1]

56. "rotten"

(Way to go, Twin Cities!)


Having grown up in Brooklyn and living there for MANY years, I find it hard to believe that the Twinky cities are more "literate" than NY.

A few years ago I went with a number of friends to watch one of Shakespeare's plays in Mpls. Of a group of 7 people, only 2 (me being one of them) ever heard of Shakespeare.

Yes, Twinky city folks do sometimes read romance and spy vs spy novels. But as for Shakespeare, Melville, Twain, Hemingway -- they are virtually unheard of in these provincial parts.

[Jackpine Radical]

58. Speaks more to your choice of friends than anything else, I'd say.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

62. And their choice of friends was different in Brooklyn?

I find that illogical.

[Fountain79]

3. YES!!!

Kansas City is higher than St. Louis. Sorry in-state rivalry thing..

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

31. There should be a bigger margin than that, but

yeah, KC at least knows how to pronounce the state's name.

[Zan_of_Texas]

4. We interrupt this program for a brief celebration of Scandinavian pride!

Note that Mpls. and Seattle and St. Paul had a lot of Scandinavian settlers.

Let's hear a great big "ya!"

[TahitiNut]

25. Uffda.

:evilgrin: So sayeth this Norwegian-American.

[Jackpine Radical]

59. Og jeg er dansk.

[salin]

61. as does San Francisco

'Ya' (another norwegian-american... who has lived in two of the top ten cities (but now only in a top 25 city.)

[Payne]

5. Go Pitt

[EFerrari]

10. That photo should come with a warning!

Welcome to DU, Payne

:hi:

[upi402]

16. welcome Payne

http://www.tampahiphop.com/main.php

[TimeChaser]

20. A fellow Pittsburgher?

:hi: Welcome to DU!

[Clark2008]

33. Tricky Dick and Colin are doing the Shocker!

:rofl:

[ultraist]

47. LOL. The real gangstas.

Daddy death and his crew.

[RepublicanElephant]

6. ...and all blue? n/t

?

[Skink]

7. No Texas cities... Right on the mark

[awoke_in_2003]

13. What?

No texas sitties in the top 10? Unpossible, we is very litterat here.

[freethought]

8. Hmph! I thought Boston would be higher.

Somehow, Seattle doesn't surprise me too much.

[freeplessinseattle]

19. you mean with all the latte liberal elitists?;)

and of course Bill Gates has helped a lot with computer resources and libraries. but is an embarassment in other ways.

[EFerrari]

9. We can't be #5! We have Lawrence Ferlinghetti!

This has been Diebolded!

[sleipnir]

11. This list is bullshit. Plain and simple.

New York being #32. That tells me these students (and the president of the University of backed these figures) didn't really make effective calculations with their methodology or incorrectly weighted results. There is no way that the city with the world's largest collection of books is at #32. Yes, there are a lot of people in New York and yes, some of the books in the unbelievable multitude of libraries that dot the landscape do require a varied level of work to access, but not that much. And the number of papers, magazines, free weeklies, entertainment publications that occur in New York. I really want to look at their specific methodology, I think it might be off, but then not to offend or get snarky, but Central Connecticut State University is not a bastion of academic excellence. If they are hot on rankings, perhaps they should check out their 3rd tier (out of 4) with the US News/World Report rankings.

The only thing I could think is that they might figure into the equation, "free" and "public" access to internet, libraries, publications, etc. They don't mention it in their site, but it seems to be implied. Also, University libraries seem to be ignored. That is a serious oversight, and should be corrected.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

12. Yeah, not seeing NYC in the top 10 immediately invalidates this list for

me. Hearing it's #32 just reinforces that.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

53. See my post #52 for the explanation

There's a lot more to New York than Manhattan.

You forget all the huge tracts of poor neighborhoods. Minneapolis has its poor areas, but they are neither as extensive nor as desperately poor as say, Bedford Stuyvesant.

[ReadTomPaine]

14. Sorry, but NYC is paradise to the knuckle dragging set.

I lived there for over a quarter century. Places like Howard Beach, Staten Island, the Bronx and Brooklyn are hardly friendly environments for intellectuals. Educated enclaves exist, but they are just that - enclaves. NYC isn't a good place to be a thinker unless you can afford to live in select parts of Manhattan or a few other limited areas.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

15. Cincinnati and Atlanta are WAY AHEAD of NYC? Ya right...

[RepublicanElephant]

21. every five miles in atlana there's a college or university. n/t

.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

36. There are more universities in NYC than

Atlanta, and the ones we do have are better, IMHO... off the top of my head for Universities

Columbia, Cornell, NYU, CUNY, SUNY, Pace, Iona, Rockefeller, Einstien, LIU, St. Johns

I am sure I am missing a few

duh... Fordham, General Theological, The New School

and I am sure there are more yet

[ultraist]

40. Cornell is not in NYC it's in Ithaca

Both of my husband's grandfathers were professors there.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

44. Cornell University Medical College is in NYC

as are a couple of it's other colleges.

[ultraist]

46. I was thinking about the main campus, not one particular grad program

But, I stand corrected.

[Rabrrrrrr]

51. Julliard, Manhattan School of Music, Barnard, Baruch, Union, Jewish

Theological Seminary, City College, Fordham, New York Theological Seminary are some more just off the top of my head.

And one that starts with "H" on the upper east side.

[sleipnir]

68. Exactly! I feel they failed to count these institutions.

If they did, there is no way NYC would be at #32. It is a known fact that between the public libraries, the university libraries and the museum libraries, there is no city in the world with more books. (not to mention the tons and tons of books I see on my friends shelves all over the city. I swear there must be 1,000 books on the shelves of each person on the Upper West Side.)

[tkmorris]

42. Per capita? Sure, why not? nt

[ultraist]

48. Speaking of NYC enclaves

How can a city that is so liberal, so blue, be so elitist? NYC has the most racially segregated schools in the nation and a very high poverty rate. Not very impressive or progressive.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020610/kozol/3

Malign Neglect

Jonathan Kozol


Budget crises, then, do not explain and cannot be exploited to justify the education cutbacks of the past nor those inflicted on the children of New York again this year. A less polite but more convincing explanation is the shift in racial demographics in the student population of the city in this period. Up until the late 1960s, when white children in large numbers still attended New York City's public schools, spending levels tended to be fairly close to those of the surrounding counties. As late as 1970, in fact, when nearly four in ten schoolchildren in New York were white, the city spent a trifle more per pupil than was spent in Nassau County and adjoining Suffolk County on Long Island, and only about 5 percent below the levels in Westchester. Three decades later, with white student population having plunged to a surviving remnant of 14.5 percent, New York City's spending has collapsed to levels far below all three of these suburban counties.

In the racial segregation of black and Latino children in its public schools, New York ranks first within the nation. Having long since turned its back on the moral implications of Brown v. Board of Education, the nation's largest and now uncontested bastion of apartheid education does not even seem prepared to live up to the tarnished promises of Plessy v. Ferguson. A city that once sent its bravest children south to save the soul of Mississippi now may need a fierce soul-saving of its own.

[Telly Savalas]

57. So when is somebody going to write

"What's the Matter with New York City?"

[question everything]

22. NYC and SoCal are at the bottom

One reason, I think, is that both areas have many immigrants who speak and read in their own languages and this can affect the results.

In SoCal, also, people would rather be outdoor than reading. Same for concerts and plays. Were it not for Hollywood, there would be even less performing arts. Many people in SoCal would rather surf the wave, or watch people on the beach, or head the mountain than be cooped in a concert hall.

This is why it is the northern cities, with snow, fog and rain - filled days that would tend to curl with a good book. Would be higher were it not for the Internet, ha!

[lwin]

67. Hmmm...SoCal stereotypes

I know you're going to find this hard to believe, since most of your ideas about Southern California have come from watching a Beach Blanket Bingo movie, but very few of us spend our days surfing the waves, watching people on the beach, hiking the mountains, skateboarding down Hollywood Blvd or hanging with the Stars.

If we can't read, it's because we sit in traffic for hours every day and have gone blind from staring at the never ending glare of brake lights.

[question everything]

70. No. Lived there during the 90s.

There were always more people skating, cycling, jogging along the beach than attending concerts, operas, plays.

We would drive to LA on a Saturday and be able to purchase tickets to good plays and musical just by standing in line. For a matinee, of course. But cycling along the beach we'd have to be careful in dodging walkers and runners and skaters who would hog the whole trail.

We would have hard time finding people who would know what is playing in theater or in concert hall.

The ultimate was: we ran into a co-worker in a grocery store after we just returned from a nice visit to France. We just came back from Paris, my spouse exclaimed. Oh, Perris next to Lake Elsinore?

What can I say. Oh, I must add that this was Orange County, where culture is not part of the landscape.

[Maine Mary]

17. Thats retahded

Averone noows OH peeple ahr smahta den MN peeple!

DUMBIES!!!

[depakid]

18. Cincinnati- LOL I don't think so

That's where they tried to indict their art museum officials for showing Maplethorpe!

Portland, Oregon probably ought to be closer to the top list like this- better than #11, considering that we have the world's largest bookstore, a pretty decent library system and a very strong contingent of independent stores around the city.

I guess that newspaper circulation category must have really dumped us. Nobody reads the Oregonian. LOL- for good reason. We like to stay literate.

[AndreaCG]

24. My friend just moved there

I see indie films and even some mainstream ones that she just doesn't get a chance to. Of course movies are not books but there is a general anit-intellectualism she finds.

[Clark2008]

34. Just because people are idiots, doesn't mean that they can't read.

I buy that NYC is lower than many of these other cities for the reason someone posted above: that there are many immigrants who probably can't read English very well.

Atlanta's pretty metropolitan, too. I once heard a joke that even I - someone who defends us Southern blues on the board almost constantly - found funny: "Atlanta is a great city. In fact, there's only one thing wrong with it. It's surrounded by Georgia." :)

That said, I really don't like Atlanta all that much. The traffic is horrid and it's too blasted hot. However, it's nice to see several Southern cities on this Top 100 list.

[lpbk2713]

23. The lowest rankings are dominated by Texas & Kullyfoornia

http://www.ccsu.edu/AMLC/Overall_Rankings/Numbers51-69.htm


What reflection does this have on Dumbya and Ahnold?

[DaveColorado]

26. Austin is 16th

Most Texas cities are the worst rated though.

[Fountain79]

27. So the short time that Arnold was in power...

has resulted in widespread illiteracy? :shrug:

[Clark2008]

35. Those, technically, aren't "low."

This is the Top 100 cities in the country. Do you realize how many thousands of cities there are with 250,000 people. Being in the Top 100 is a GOOD thing.

[donheld]

49. What world do you live in?

There are fewer than 100 cities with 250,000 in the US.

Edit: There are no more than 70.

[Clark2008]

54. There must be more than 70 because this list

says it includes cities with 250,000 or more - and there are 100 on this list.

:shrug:

250,000 really isn't a lot of people. I like in a city with more than that and it's not on the list at all. With a university seated right here, I'm somehow doubting everyone here is a bunch of illiterate dummies.

[donheld]

66. There are 69 on the list nt

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108676.html

[EFerrari]

39. I wonder given that one is an East Coaster and the other

is Austrian? :crazy:

[lpbk2713]

28. It's interesting that the city O'Lielly wants to blow up

is Number Five.

Maybe they're just too smart for him and he's envious?


:shrug:

[spundit]

29. I wonder

how the US compares with England, my home country. Literacy face off! I want a good clean fight.

[JVS]

30. GO PITTSBURGH

Way to show those fucks from Philly where it's at!

[FVZA_Colonel]

32. Well then, all right Seattle!

I knew I loved going to college their for a reason.

[CatholicEdHead]

37. Minneapolis AND St Paul in the top 10

That is a credit to the school systems up here. Now if we can only get our current Repub Gov Pawlenty out of office with his "no new taxes" pledge to sustain it.

[Paulie]

38. What about Pol... er.. Chicago?

Wow, the only item to break Chicago into the top 20 is periodical circulation?

Maybe they should do the stats by County? :) :) :)

[ultraist]

41. Raleigh, NC number l3

Hmmm, I live in the Triangle and Chapel Hill is probably the most literate area in this region, not Raleigh, although my suburb ranks very high for level of education. Futher, Raleigh went to Bush and Chapel Hill went to Kerry.

Their criteria was based primarily on retail sales, it's not really a true measure of literacy.

[tx_dem41]

43. My guess is that Chapel Hill is considered within the MSA of

Raleigh. Just guessing though.

:hi:

[ultraist]

45. That very well could be.

:hi: :)

[Lex]

71. That was my guess too. Probably includes Duke

and Durham too.

[Hypatia82]

50. ah utterly useless studies...

Ultimately how many people can read doesn't mean much. It's what people know that matters. And when there's never been any mininum standards on science, history, math etc, wellll counting how many people can read is like counting how many people wear white socks. You can make it look good, but it's a useless count. And don't forget Charlamagne was illiterate, and it sure didn't hurt his intelligence any. Attila the Hun was literate, and spoke 4 languages, and is still misrepresented as a barbarian or worse.

[kskiska]

55. Back around the time of the 2000 elections

I remember seeing a map online using color to show areas of the country according to highest/lowest concentration of bookstores. Of course, the most literate areas were in blue states and large cities. No surprise there.

[Endangered Specie]

60. Ah hah! Raleigh beat Charlotte

:P

[Castilleja]

63. I am astounded that Corpus Christi, Tx. is even on the list!

I am in shock. Sure we are #67 of 69, but we are on there.

[eridani]

64. Seattle has led in library materials checked out per capita--

--in cities of 500,000+ for quite a long time. Tacoma ranks first in the category 250,000-500,000. Those long, cold, wet winter evenings might have something to do with it.

[MalachiConstant]

65. wow, i'm surprised boston isn't higher on that list

given all the extremely good colleges in the area, i would think that would bump them up a few notches. although, a lot of them aren't technically in boston (harvard, mit, bc, bu, etc.,), they're close enough.



postscript:

i apologize in advance if this is against some rule i'm unaware of, but i'm going to plug my thread. i have started a thread suggesting a new DU group for career advice, and job seekers. if you're interested please check out this thread and reply:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x4430590

[NuttyFluffers]

69. wow, oaktown is 30! above LA, San Diego, San Jose, ....

Anaheim, Stockton, Riverside.... i think the only other CA city (besides the obvious #5 slot of SF) it didn't pass up was Sacramento! wow, now that surprises me! go Oaktown!

with SF and OAK we be some literate mofos in here! 'sup, 'sup, you know it! reprezent!