FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – Fresno maintains its status as the 8th least literate city in the country.
Calling it a large-scale portrait of our nation’s cultural vitality, Central Connecticut State University ranked cities with a population of 250,000 and above by their reading culture.
Six key indicators of literacy included the number of bookstores, library systems, newspaper circulation, and digital readership.
Washington D.C. takes the title in 2016 in the survey released this year for most literate out of the 82 largest U.S. cities.
Fresno ranked at 75th, joining Bakerfield, El Paso, and Stockton at the bottom part of the list.
Laredo Texas had the dubious honor of being the least literate city in the country.
The authors say it’s not the ranks that matter but what communities do to promote the kinds of literacy practices that the data track.
Click below to listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
