Who Doesn’t Read Books In America?

With all the book blogs, book box club subscriptions, and websites to find free books, you’d think that man Americans spend more time reading and less time watching TV. However, a 2019 Pew Research reported that 27 percent of US adults haven’t read a book in the past 12 months! Many survey respondents said that they don’t have time, they don’t see the difference between reading and watching the film, or they can’t find anything they like to read.

So who exactly does or doesn’t read in America? Keep reading below to find out and see what habits you can improve on to get more reading in this year.

Who has not read a book in the past 12 months

For the most part, the numbers in previous studies stay roughly the same. It is encouraging to see that in 2016, those with a college degree or more improved from 13 percent to 8 percent in 2019. Those that make an annual income of $75,000 also improved by about 3 percent. When you look at the data from 2018 to 2019, the percent of men who haven’t read a book in the past year increased from 25 percent to 32 percent. Meanwhile, the amount of women readers stayed the same. Those that live in a rural area that didn’t read a book in the past twelve months jumped from 26 percent in 2018 to 33 percent in 2019. This statistic is quite interesting considering that books have gotten more readily available thanks to services like Audible, Kindle, and other digital publications. Many times, you can find debuting authors offering their books at a discount or for free, which should be an even more of an incentive to read. Nothing beats free entertainment, and BookBub is a fantastic website to find the best deals on ebooks. Be sure to thank the author for their book deal and give them a positive review (if you liked the book, of course).

Who does read?

27 percent seems like a lot considering the population of the US, but there are plenty of avid readers in the country. Children who live amongst a house full of books develop a passion for reading. Personality plays a role in who reads books. Introverts are more likely to do a lot of leisure-time reading. Seeing how introverts prefer a lot of alone time, this should come as no surprise. Those who work in certain industries are also more likely to be caught with a book in their hands. Monster.com found that librarians, lawyers, teachers, political scientists, writers, and editors read more than those in other professions.

How to build good reading habits 

Even some of the busiest billionaires make time for reading. Marc Cuban, Oprah, Bill Gates, and Reese Witherspoon all believe in the magic of reading. It reduces stress, increases productivity, and builds creativity no matter what industry you’re in. In a previous article, The Reading Habits of Successful People and What You Can Learn from Them we learned why these successful CEOs and celebrities make time for books. In an interview with Business Insider Bill Gates said, “These days, I also get to visit interesting places, meet with scientists, and watch a lot of lectures online,” Gates explained. “But reading is still the main way that I both learn new things and test my understanding.” What is something you’d like to learn or improve on? Think about skills that could help you in school or in your career and there is bound to be a book out there that can help you succeed.

Book recommendations 

If you haven’t found a book you’ve enjoyed in the past year, check out some of our recommendations. Here you’ll find a variety of genres to practice your speed reading skills. Our Speed Reading Foundation course will help you build good reading habits, so you can say goodbye to all of the excuses you’ve used in the past.

Click the link to find out more and how you can bring reading back into your daily routine.