DC Rated America's 2nd Most Literate City (Washington: homes, public school)

[normie]

The rankings for the America's Most Literate Cities study rank Washington DC second out of 75 cities.

The study is based on a number of criteria, including the number of retail bookstores per 10,000 population, the percentage of adult population with a high school diploma or higher, the number of Web page views per capita to a city's Internet version of a newspaper and the total weekday circulation of a city's newspapers.

Now, to be honest I'm not a fan of the recent rash of "city rankings" lists. Most of them (including this one) seem to have equal portions of baloney mixed in with the insight. But..... I'm getting bored with talking about snow. So, here's to moving on to a new topic! What do you guys think of this rating? And why is Seattle #1, pushing us to the #2 slot?

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by normie

So, here's to moving on to a new topic! What do you guys think of this rating? And why is Seattle #1, pushing us to the #2 slot?

Seattle has alot of coffee shops so I think the book-thing goes hand-in-hand with that, and . . .

Microsoft is right outside of Seattle which would explain all the internet-reading-newspaper stuff.

BTW, if the rankings had mustered in # and types of college degrees, I think we would have surpassed Seattle -- big time.

[Caladium]

This study doesn't take into account libraries, recycling, or the general spirit of sharing. I read the paper at work. We get 5 different subscriptions and everyone at work reads them and passes them around. It always gives us plenty to talk about at lunch.

Maybe the wet weather in Seattle means people there all want their own individual newspapers delivered to their homes. Not me, I'm into recycling. I like reading the newspaper at work or the library (but you have to get there early because lots of other people do the same thing).

[Badger21]

The rankings for the America's Most Literate Cities study rank Washington DC second out of 75 cities

Obviously, Congress was not a part of this study.

[Phoenix2017]

Very fascinating info normie! Agreed with South Jersey Styx's and Caladium's points. Just a little surprised as well that Seattle got #1 (rather than somewhere like NYC or Boston)? Also agreed that the criteria itself may perhaps be slightly subjective (especially high school degrees vs. college degrees, as was suggested earlier).

[Caladium]

I wonder if they rated which sections of the papers were read online. Did they award extra points for reading the op-ed page, and detract points if all you looked at was the comics? And how about people who read national newspapers? According to this study, you're rated as more literate if you read the Washington Post than if you read the Wall Street Journal.

[Yankeesfan]

Originally Posted by Badger21

The rankings for the America's Most Literate Cities study rank Washington DC second out of 75 cities

Obviously, Congress was not a part of this study.

Obviously, DC public school students, graduates (oops, are there any?), dropouts, and employees were not a part of this study either.

[SteelCityRising]

I'm surprised Minneapolis didn't receive top honors. I thought they were the most literate city in prior years.

[Alicia Bradley]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I'm surprised Minneapolis didn't receive top honors. I thought they were the most literate city in prior years.

I don't think this study is based on anything as hum-drum and old-fashioned as actual literacy rates.

[normie]

Our rates will go sky high for next year if the weather stays nasty like this. I'll bet half the people here are inside right now, saying "It's too cold and windy to play outdoors, lets read newspapers online instead."