America’s Most (and Least) Literate Cities

Wall Street 24X7 ^ | 02/24/2014 | By Thomas C. Frohlich and Alexander E.M. Hess Read more: America’s Most (and Least) Literate Cities

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Rio Linda didn’t make the list? ;)

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Washington, D.C.? Did they only measure the Eloi? If they didn’t include the Morlocks, it was racism, pure and simple.

[txrefugee]

What do all the least literate cities have in common? Illegals from south of the border. It’s not our “chob” to make illegals literate in Texas. They only have to register to vote Democrat.

[hinckley buzzard]

"The most literate cities were largely in the Northeast,"

This is a peculiar statement. Only Boston is in the top ten, aside from Washington, which really isn't a "northeast city" in the usual sense of the term.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Did they only measure the Eloi? If they didn’t include the Morlocks, it was racism, pure and simple.

Do the Morlocks outnumber the Eloi’s? I didn’t know that we’ve gone back to the future... :)

[SeekAndFind]

RE: What do all the least literate cities have in common? Illegals from south of the border.

I wonder why the very liberal Massachusetts isn’t a big illegal magnet...

[Buckeye McFrog]

Yinz all know that, like, we here in Da Burgh is literate n’at.

[cripplecreek]

Doesn’t look to me like they really looked at literacy.

I don’t subscribe to a newspaper, have a college degree, there is no bookstore in my town, and I’m dirt poor. Clearly I must be illiterate.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Newspaper subscription is not an indicator of literacy.

Newspaper subscription rates, are a measure of liberalism.

[Vigilanteman]

CCSU ranked the cities based on six categories: bookstores, residents’ educational attainment, newspaper circulation, use of online resources, the library system, and periodical publishing resources.

A classic case of GIGO. Yeah, all of the least literate cities have a huge population of illegal amigos. But the above six categories are hardly a measure of literacy when you consider that MOST ALL of them have a substantial professional, well-paid population. But some of them also have a huge underclass with barely functional literacy.

Yes, I've lived in or near two on the list (St. Paul and Pittsburgh), neither of which have the huge underclass compared to most of the other cities on the list.

But a little secret is neither city is particularly diverse and would be castigated by the experts for such. St. Paul is largely Scandinavian, Pittsburgh is largely Irish and Eastern European, all of which are ethnic groups known for their love of literature, reading and real music. They understand that logarithms is a branch of mathematics and is not music produced with a percussion instrument.

[gr8eman]

Totally bogus survey. The only reason anyone buys a newspaper nowadays is to get their talking points and 3 minutes hate from DC/NY elitists.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Newspaper subscription rates, are a measure of liberalism.

Or, in the case of Pittsburgh, the oldest skewing population outside of Florida that is still not entirely hip to the online distribution of news.

[Donkey Odious]

Me in San Antonio. Can somewon tell me what this about?

[knarf]

I am NOT going to read all that without a definition of “literacy” first.

[Paine in the Neck]

The methodology for compiling this is questionable. Too much weight is put on newspapers. I don't read them and I read voraciously. When I have glanced at a newspaper I find that the level of their literacy is laughably low. Bookstores are nice but not indicative. I and most active readers I know use Amazon, etc. A better list of literacy could be had by mapping Amazon sales and SAT scores.

[strider44]

We have plenty of illegals up here (Massachusetts).I will say this in my ten years living in Boston- lots of illegals from Brazil and Ireland. Both groups work very hard, especially in the manual labor fields. The Irish are well-liked though. Nobody says boo about illegal Irish nannies all over the place. But the brown illegals in front of Home Depot are looked down upon.

[thackney]

CCSU ranked the cities based on six categories: bookstores, residents’ educational attainment, newspaper circulation, use of online resources, the library system, and periodical publishing resources.

[Mad Dawgg]

"I don’t subscribe to a newspaper, have a college degree, there is no bookstore in my town, and I’m dirt poor. Clearly I must be illiterate."

Same here yet I bet I read more than most of the people who work in the MSM.

I average about 1 book every two days plus a couple of hours a day at least on the Internet reading news and such.

[cripplecreek]

I don’t buy a lot of books these days but I have a considerable library on my kindle and read from it every day not to mention all that I read online.