Reading statistics: how many Americans read, and how much
Most reading statistics online are recycled without dates or sources. This page does the opposite: a small set of numbers, each from the primary source that measured it, with the survey date attached — plus the one thing nobody else measures, what U.S. schools actually assign.
Who reads, and in what format
Pew Research Center's survey (fielded January 25 – February 8, 2021) is the canonical read on formats:
| Measure | Share of U.S. adults |
|---|---|
| U.S. adults who read a book in any format in the past 12 months | 75% |
| U.S. adults who read a print book in the past year | 65% |
| U.S. adults who read an e-book in the past year | 30% |
| Read digital formats and print books | 33% |
| Read print books only | 32% |
| Read digital formats only | 9% |
Source: Pew Research Center, published January 6, 2022, from a survey fielded January 25 – February 8, 2021.
How many books per year
Gallup has asked Americans how many books they read since 1990. Its December 1–16, 2021 telephone survey (n=811 adults) found an average of 12.6 books in the past year — the lowest in the series — versus 15.6 in 2016. The share reading zero books (17%) is essentially unchanged from the 16–18% of 2002–2016: the decline comes from readers reading less, not from more people giving up books entirely.
Source: Gallup, survey December 1–16, 2021.
Student reading: the NAEP picture
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (2024) puts numbers on how students read: the average grade-4 reading score was 2 points lower than in 2022, and 40% of fourth-graders scored below the NAEP Basic level — a larger share than in 2022 (and not significantly different from the first assessment in 1992).
Source: The Nation's Report Card, NAEP 2024 Reading Assessment.
What students are assigned to read — our own data
Surveys measure what people say they read. This site measures what schools put in front of students, computed at build time from 13,258 assignment records across published U.S. reading lists (snapshot 2026-07-21):
- 1,664 distinct books assigned across 47 states — assigned books statistics
- The most-assigned book is Wonder by R.J. Palacio (148 assignments) — the full ranked table
- Median length 212 pages (n=11,719) — book length statistics
- Median publication year 2012 — assigned book age statistics
Questions this page answers
How many Americans read books?
75% of U.S. adults say they read a book in any format in the past 12 months (Pew Research Center, survey fielded January 25 – February 8, 2021). Print still leads: 65% read a print book, 30% an e-book.
How many books does the average American read per year?
12.6 books in the past year, per Gallup's December 2021 survey — the lowest average Gallup has measured in any survey since 1990, down from 15.6 in 2016.
What share of Americans read no books at all?
17% of U.S. adults read no books in the past year (Gallup, December 2021) — similar to the 16–18% Gallup measured across 2002–2016. Falling averages are driven by heavy readers reading less, not by more non-readers.
Are American students reading better or worse?
Worse on the national assessment: the average NAEP grade-4 reading score in 2024 was 2 points lower than in 2022, and 40% of fourth-graders scored below the NAEP Basic level — a larger share than in 2022.
How long is a typical book assigned in school?
The median book on U.S. school reading lists runs 212 pages, computed across 11,719 assignment records in this site's corpus — see the book length statistics page for the full grade-by-grade distribution.
Download the data
- reading-statistics.csv Every figure on this page with its source, source URL and survey date. Free, CORS-enabled, CC BY 4.0 — reuse with a link.
- All data downloads →
Cite this page
<a href="https://bookstatistics.com/reading-statistics/">U.S. Reading Statistics</a>. Book Statistics, a Figures Bureau site. [U.S. Reading Statistics](https://bookstatistics.com/reading-statistics/). Book Statistics, a Figures Bureau site. [url=https://bookstatistics.com/reading-statistics/]U.S. Reading Statistics[/url]. Book Statistics, a Figures Bureau site. Method note
External figures on this page are quoted from their primary sources — Pew Research Center (surveyed 2021), Gallup (surveyed 2021) and NAEP (assessed 2024) — fetched and verified on 2026-07-23; survey vintages differ and are stated inline rather than blended. Assigned-reading figures are computed at build from this site's corpus (snapshot 2026-07-21); see the methodology.
Related reference pages
- Bestseller statistics How the NYT list actually works — the odds and the mechanics.
- Assigned books statistics The corpus in reference form.
- Most-assigned books, ranked The living top-50 table.
Data + analysis: bookstatistics.com, CC BY 4.0. A Figures Bureau study.