By Sarah Anderson
If you live in Virginia, we have something you can add to your list of reasons to be proud of the Commonwealth: you’re part of one of the most well-read states in the United States! At least, according to Amazon you are.
The popular website just released its list of the 20 most well-read cities in the United States, and Arlington and Richmond made the top 20 with Alexandria coming in at the top spot. Naturally, big college towns such as Cambridge, Massachusetts (home to Harvard and MIT), Ann Arbor, Michigan (home to the University of Michigan), Gainesville, Florida (home to the University of Florida), and Berkeley, California (home to the University of California, Berkeley) also made the list.
As a Southerner, I was pleasantly surprised to see several local cities on the list. We usually get a bad rap when it comes to education. Not only did my hometown, Atlanta, make the list, but Miami, Knoxville, Orlando and Columbia did as well. I was also surprised to see that New York City didn’t even crack the top 20.
The annual list is always comprised of cities with over 100,000 residents who purchased the most books, eBooks, newspapers, and magazines.
Here’s the rest of the list:
1. Alexandria, Virginia
2. Cambridge, Massachusetts
3. Berkeley, California
4. Ann Arbor, Michigan
5. Boulder, Colorado
6. Miami, Florida
7. Arlington, Virginia.
8. Gainesville, Florida
9. Washington, D.C.
10. Salt Lake City, Utah
11. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
12. Knoxville, Tennessee
13. Seattle, Washington
14. Orlando, Florida
15. Columbia, South Carolina
16. Bellevue, Washington
17. Cincinnati, Ohio
18. St. Louis, Missouri
19. Atlanta, Georgia
20. Richmond, Virginia
So, what do you think? Did your city make the list? Is there a city there that surprises you or one you think should have made the list? Let us know!