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D.C. is ranked the most literate city in the U.S.

By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY

Washington, D.C. tops the list of most literate cities in the country.

CAPTION

By Joshua Roberts, Bloomberg

Here is the top 10 for 2011, as ranked by Central Connecticut State University President Jack Miller, based on data that includes number of bookstores, library resources, newspaper circulation and Internet resources:

1. Washington, D.C. (same as in 2010)

2. Seattle (same as in 2010)

3. Minneapolis (same as in 2010)

4. Atlanta (same as in 2010)

5. Boston (up from No. 12 in 2010)

6. Pittsburgh (down from No. 5 in 2010)

7. Cincinnati (up from No. 11 in 2010)

8. St. Louis (up from No 9.5 in 2010)

9. San Francisco (down from No. 6 in 2010)

10. Denver (down from No. 8 in 2010)

Miller says he discovered that "wealthier cites are no more likely to rank highly in literacy than poorer cities."

For example, he notes that Cleveland is ranking second lowest for median family income data, but based on higher rankings for its library system and newspaper and magazine circulations, it's ranked 13th most literate in the survey.

"On the other hand," he says, "Anchorage, Alaska, is ranked 5th in median family income and only 61st in literacy."

He adds that the findings "suggest that, contrary to what many people think, a city's quality of literacy has to do with many decisions that go beyond just how wealthy and highly educated is the population."

Details are posted at ccsu.edu/AMLC2011

http://books.usatoday.com/bookbuzz/post/2012-01-25/washington-dc-is-ranked-the-most-literate-city-in-the-usa/612047/1