In 2021, survey data on book readers in the United States revealed that 78 percent of female respondents stated they had read or listened to at least one book in the previous 12 months. The share of men who had read a book in that time frame was slightly lower at 73 percent, but marked an increase from the 67 percent recorded two years earlier.

Book readers in the U.S.

Whilst digital formats have overtaken print in terms of popularity and consumption, many U.S. media consumers still enjoy a good book – though women tend to read more books than men. A 2018 survey showed that 11 percent of U.S. women read 31 or more books that year, compared to five percent of male respondents. Women were also more likely to prefer reading books in paperback format, and much less likely to be fans of comic books.

Regardless of adults’ preferences, something which many U.S. readers agree on is the importance of reading to children. According to a report on family reading habits, 58 percent of parents with a child aged between three and five years old said that they read aloud to their child five to seven times per week. The frequency of read-aloud time diminished as children grew older, usually because the child could then read independently, though some children eventually swap reading for other activities such as playing video games, watching television, or using social media.

The statistic shows the average number of books read per year by consumers in the United States as of August 2018, broken down by income. The data shows that Americans earning more than $80,000 a year were more likely to have read more books than those on lower salaries, with 16 percent of respondents in this category saying that they read between 20 and 50 books per year compared to 10 percent of Americans with a salary below $40,000.

Estimates show that 191 million e-books were sold in the United States in 2020, according to the most recently available data. Precise figures on e-book sales are difficult to gather due to smaller publishers and major retailers such as Amazon being missed from sales data, and other factors such as the varying methodologies sources use to track and measure the market. For example, whilst figures for 2016 and 2017 are lower than the immediately preceding years, it was noted that figures for these years only included around 450 publishers. E-books in the U.S. E-book sales revenue in the United States fluctuates, and like unit sales, is prone to readjustments and changes in measurement. The best and most accurate estimates place revenue at over one billion U.S. dollars, the highest recorded so far but only a small improvement from the numbers given for 2017 and 2018. Expenditure on digital book readers also wavers, tending to hover between 19 and 25 U.S. dollars per year. In 2013, annual spending on e-readers averaged over 30 U.S. dollars, but the number has not reached that level again since, suggesting that such devices have already lost ground as consumers instead opt to use their smartphones for on-the-go media consumption. E-book readers Book fans all across the United States read e-books, though data on e-book readers by urbanity shows that consumers in rural parts of the country are less likely to engage with the format than those living in urban and suburban areas. Survey data on print and digital book readership highlights the continued preference for print, with only a small number of consumers exclusively reading digital books. However, growing numbers of book readers favor a combination of print and digital books, which is good news for publishers branching out beyond traditional formats but still wanting to produce printed books.