Isles’ rank in literacy increases in survey
Honolulu is the 18th most literate city in a university study
Star-Bulletin staff
Honolulu residents are reading more compared to people in other large cities, according to an annual list of America's most literate cities.
Honolulu ranked 18th this year, up from 22nd last year and 35th in 2005.
To come up with the rankings, the study looks at the number of booksellers, education levels, library resources and usage, newspaper circulation, Internet usage and the number of local publications.
Honolulu saw improvement in all categories over last year, especially in Internet usage, rising from 21st last year to 11th this year.
The city ranked lowest in the number of booksellers -- 52nd, but even that was up from 55th in 2006.
Honolulu was 15th in the percentage of people with high school or college degrees, tied for 15th in the number of local publications, tied for 35th in newspaper circulation, and 19th in library services and usage.
The study, released last week, was put together by Jack Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University.
Miller said that even though Americans are becoming more educated, they are buying few books and newspapers.
Reading on the Internet, however, is rising, as is the number of magazine publications. Libraries also seem to be holding their own.
The study looked at the 69 largest cities in the United States with populations over 250,000. Honolulu was ranked based on the area defined by the Census as urban Honolulu, from Red Hill to Hawaii Kai.
Minneapolis was the most literate city, followed by Seattle; St. Paul; Denver; and Washington, D.C.
St. Louis, San Francisco, Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Boston rounded out the Top 10.
The least literate cities were Stockton, Calif.; El Paso, Texas; Anaheim, Calif.; Aurora, Colo.; and Corpus Christi, Texas.