Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, Bookish Wisdom earns from qualifying purchases. This doesn’t change our picks or your price.
Quick answer: About three in four American adults (75%) say they read at least part of a book in the past year, according to Pew Research Center’s October 2025 survey, but other surveys put the figure lower: the NEA found 48.5% read a book for pleasure in 2022. Most readers still choose print (64%), while e-books (31%) and audiobooks (26%) have grown since 2011.
Quick facts
Pew (Oct 2025): 75% of U.S. adults read all or part of a book in the past 12 months
Pew: 64% read a print book, 31% an e-book, 26% an audiobook
NEA (2022): 48.5% read at least one book for pleasure, down from 52.7% in 2017
Gallup (2021): Americans read an average of 12.6 books, the lowest since 1990
Circana (2025): U.S. print book unit sales were 762.4 million, up 0.3%
How much do people really read in 2026? The answer depends on which survey you trust and what counts as reading. Some studies count anyone who finished or sampled a book in the last year, while others count only books read for pleasure, and a few include audiobooks. This guide gathers the most reliable recent figures from Pew Research Center, the National Endowment for the Arts, Gallup and the publishing industry, explains why they differ and shows what they suggest about reading habits. Each number is attributed to its source and year so that you can check it yourself. The picture is mixed: most adults still read some books, but the average amount appears to have declined over the past decade, while audio and digital formats keep growing.
Table of Contents
How Many Americans Read a Book in a Year?
Pew Research Center’s October 2025 survey of 8,046 U.S. adults found that 75% had read all or part of at least one book in the previous 12 months. The remaining 25% had read none. Pew’s distribution of how many books people read is revealing: about 38% read between one and five, 13% read six to ten, 10% read eleven to twenty and 14% read more than twenty. That means a minority of heavy readers account for a large share of all books read. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), using a different question about books read for pleasure, found 48.5% of adults in its 2022 survey, down from 52.7% in 2017. A YouGov survey from 2023 found just over half of Americans (54%) said they read a book that year.
Why Do the Surveys Disagree?
The differences are mostly about wording. Pew counts reading ‘all or part’ of any book, including those read for work or school, in any format. The NEA’s headline measure asks about reading a book in the past year that was not required for work or school, and its figures come from a large Census Bureau supplement. Gallup asks how many books a person read, which brings the average toward a few heavy readers. YouGov’s online surveys rely on self-reports. None is wrong; they measure different things. When you see a statistic about reading, check the question, the year and the sample size before comparing it with another one.
How Many Books Does the Average American Read?
Gallup’s December 2021 poll found that Americans read an average of 12.6 books in the past year, which Gallup reported as the lowest figure it had measured since it began asking in 1990. Averages hide a gap between the typical and the heavy reader: because a small group reads dozens of books, the median is far lower than the mean. Pew’s distribution supports this, with 38% reading only one to five books. If you want a single plain-English takeaway, it is that the typical American reads a few books a year, while a committed minority reads many.
Which Formats Do People Use?
Pew’s 2025 data show that print remains the most common format: 64% of adults read a print book in the past year, down from 72% in 2011. E-books are up to 31% from 17%, and audiobooks reached 26% from 11%. Younger adults lean digital, with 41% of adults under 30 saying they read an e-book in the past year. The Audio Publishers Association’s survey adds that 58% of Americans 18 and older have ever listened to an audiobook, an estimated 157 million people (2026 survey), up from 51% in the 2025 survey. In sales, the APA reported audiobook revenue of $2.43 billion in 2025, up 9% from 2024.
Who Reads More: Education, Age and Gender?
Education has a strong relationship with reading. In Pew’s 2025 survey, 88% of adults with a bachelor’s degree read a book in the past year, compared with 78% of those with some college and 60% of those with a high school education or less. The NEA has also documented a persistent gap between women and men in reading for pleasure, with women reading more fiction. Age matters too: younger adults read fewer print books but more e-books. These patterns are consistent over many years of surveys, although the size of the gaps changes.
What Do Sales Tell Us?
Publishers Weekly, citing Circana BookScan, reported that U.S. print unit sales were 762.4 million in 2025, up 0.3% from 2024 and below the 2021 peak of 839.7 million. Romance sales rose 3.9% to nearly 44 million units, while fantasy fell 8.7% to 24.1 million. The best-selling print book of 2025 was The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, with about 2.8 million copies. Self-help grew 14.7% while biographies and memoirs fell 7%. Sales are not the same as reading, since many books are bought and not read, but they show where attention and money are going.
How Often Do People Go to Libraries or Join Book Clubs?
The NEA’s 2022 survey found that 23% of adults visited a public library and 5% joined a book or reading group. The Institute of Museum and Library Services reports that library visits have rebounded since the pandemic, with median visits per person rising from 0.4 in fiscal 2021 to 2.8 in fiscal 2023, and electronic circulation up 84% since fiscal 2018. Libraries remain one of the main ways people access books, especially digital ones, which helps explain why e-book and audiobook reading keep growing.
Is Reading Really in Decline?
The data point in two directions. The share of adults who read at least one book has held fairly steady in Pew’s surveys since 2021, and audiobook listening has grown. But the NEA’s data show lower rates of reading for pleasure than a decade ago, and Gallup’s average number of books has fallen. A cautious conclusion is that there are fewer very frequent book readers than before, more people mixing formats and a lot of attention competing with books. The decline is not uniform, and some categories, such as romance, are growing.
What Do These Numbers Mean for You?
If you read a book a month, you read more than the typical American in several surveys. If you want to read more, the data suggest practical options: use the library, try audiobooks for commutes and choose formats that fit your life. A Kindle Paperwhite makes reading in bed easy, and a reading journal can help you track progress. Remember that the goal is enjoyment, not hitting a national average.
Sources and Notes
Figures in this guide come from the following: Pew Research Center, Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions (April 2026, survey October 2025), and Who doesn’t read books in America? (2021); the National Endowment for the Arts, 2022 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts; Gallup (December 2021); the Audio Publishers Association, annual surveys; Publishers Weekly reporting on Circana BookScan data (2025); and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Library Trends FY 2018–2023. Surveys differ in who they ask, how they word questions and what counts as a book, so figures from different sources rarely match exactly. Treat each number as a snapshot from the named survey and year, not as a universal truth. Percentages may have changed since these studies were published, and some sources revise earlier results.
Books About Why and How We Read
If these numbers make you curious about reading itself, several books explore it. Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf explains how the brain learns to read, and her follow-up Reader, Come Home asks what screens do to deep reading. The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller shows how a teacher got students to read dozens of books a year. How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler is a classic guide to reading with purpose, and The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma is a warm memoir about a father and daughter who read aloud together for 3,218 nights. Any of them is a good companion if you want to read more.
How to Evaluate a Statistic About reading
Before you repeat any number you read about reading, ask five questions. Who ran the survey, and do they have a reason to prefer a particular result? When was it conducted, since habits and markets change quickly? How many people were asked, and were they chosen to represent the whole population? What exactly was measured, such as books read, hours spent or money spent? And how was the question worded? A small change in wording, like ‘read for pleasure’ versus ‘read any book,’ can swing a result by tens of percentage points. Look for the margin of error, which tells you how much a number could move if the survey were repeated. Prefer primary sources, such as the organization that did the research, over blog posts that repeat their figures.
Common Misconceptions About reading
Several myths circulate. One is that a single statistic proves a trend; in reality, trends need several data points over time. Another is that sales equal reading, when many books are bought and never finished, and library borrowing is missing from sales data. A third is that an average describes a typical person, when a few heavy users can lift the mean. A fourth is that survey respondents always report accurately; people tend to overstate socially desirable habits like reading. Finally, correlation is not causation: people who read more may also have more time, more education or more access to books. Keeping these in mind helps you read headlines with a clear head.
A Short Glossary for reading Statistics
A few terms come up often. The mean is the average, found by adding values and dividing by the count. The median is the middle value, which is often a better picture of a typical person when a few people have very high numbers. A sample is the group actually surveyed, and a representative sample is chosen to reflect the larger population. The margin of error is the range within which the true value probably falls. A trend compares the same measure across several years. A fiscal year is an organization’s accounting year, which may not match the calendar year. Knowing these words makes reports easier to follow.
How to Use These Numbers in Your Own Reading Life
Statistics are most useful when they prompt a small action. If you learn that most people read only a few books a year, you can feel good about a modest goal, such as one book a month. If you see that audiobooks and e-books are growing, you might try a format that fits your commute or bedtime. If library use is rebounding, check your local branch for new programs. A {reading journal|reading journal} helps you track what you read and how it feels. The point is not to compete with an average but to build a habit you enjoy and can keep.
Questions to Ask Next Time You See a Reading Statistic
When a headline claims that reading is collapsing or booming, pause and ask what is being compared. Is it this year against last year, or against a peak? Does the figure include audiobooks and library borrowing, or only print sales? Is it about adults, children or both? Which country does it cover? Does the writer give a link to the original report? If the answers are missing, treat the claim with caution. Good reporting names the source, the year and the measure, which is the standard this guide aims to meet.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people read books in 2026?
Pew’s October 2025 survey found 75% of U.S. adults read at least part of a book in the past year. Other surveys, such as the NEA’s 2022 survey on reading for pleasure, show lower rates around 48.5%.
How many books does the average person read a year?
Gallup found an average of 12.6 books in 2021, but the typical person reads fewer, because a small group of heavy readers raises the average.
Are print books still more popular than e-books?
Yes. Pew found 64% read a print book, 31% an e-book and 26% an audiobook in 2025.
Is reading declining?
Some measures, such as reading for pleasure and average books per person, have declined, while audiobooks and some genres are growing.
Which group reads the most?
College graduates read at the highest rates: 88% in Pew’s 2025 survey.
Where do these statistics come from?
They come from Pew Research Center, the National Endowment for the Arts, Gallup, the Audio Publishers Association, Circana and IMLS.