Cities for Readers

While reading the December 12th edition of USA Today I noticed this year's ranking of "America's Most Literate Cities" which ranks the nation's 70 largest cities (population 250,000 and higher) using criteria such as -- library usage, newspapers in circulation, etc. -- to rank these cities in terms of overall literacy. The Top Ten cities for 2006 include:

1. Seattle
2. Minneapolis
3. TIE: Atlanta and Washington DC
5. St. Paul
6. Pittsburgh
7. Cincinnati
8. Denver
9. San Francisco
10. Portland

Source: America's Most Literate Cities 2006
www.ccsu.edu/AMLCO6

I am proud to report that my adopted state of Minnesota is the only state having 2 of these top 10 cities -- hey, it is usually winter here so you better know how to read!! :)

But which cities were ranked at the bottom of this list of 70 American cities? The Bottom Ten cities (of the 70 researched) -

http://www.ccsu.edu/amlc06/Overall_Rankings/Numbers51-69.htm

produce the following tally count by state:

California -- 5
Texas - 4
Colorado - 1

The most interesting city in this Bottom Ten from my perspective is Aurora, Colorado since it is a suburb of Denver which ranked #8 overall. Perhaps these suburbanites need to visit downtown Denver more often -- in fact I suggest they combine a trip to the local book stores with a restaurant in the "LoDo" area of Denver. A wonderful place to spend an evening.

Keep reading,

Todd