Lawn Love compared the 200 biggest cities based on five categories to determine 2023’s Best Cities for Book Lovers. Among 15 metrics considered was access to bookstores, literary festivals and Little Free Libraries.
The best cities for book lovers are New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C. and Miami. Baltimore is no. 9.
The worst cities are Brownsville, Texas, West Valley City, Utah, Chesapeake, Virginia, Port St. Lucie, Fla. and Laredo, Texas.
The city that never sleeps must stay up all night reading. New York has a 21-point lead ahead of the next city with the most public libraries, antique and rare bookstores and giving residents access to reading material. The Big Apple also hosts the most book clubs, book festivals and literary landmarks.
San Francisco host the highest number of silent book clubs in the U.S., as well as most bookstores and independent bookstores per square mile.
The highest number of used bookstores is in Seattle, as is the third highest number of independent bookstores per square mile. This year’s largest national book fair and gathering was held in Seattle.
The most Little Free Libraries is in Rockford, Illinois.
Washington, D.C. has the second highest number of independent bookstores and third highest total number of bookstores per square mile. The second highest number of literary festivals is also in our nation’s capital.
The 8th highest number of public libraries is in Baltimore.
Alexandria, Virginia’s claim to fame is having the most books “in the wild” per 100,000 residents. Alexandria is no. 18 on the list of best cities for book lovers.
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Rebecca Barnabi
