Most Americans didn't read many books in 2025
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Featuring data on how many books Americans read in 2025.
It’s the end of the year, which means it’s time for me to count up my reading stats and see how I did. I’m normally a pretty heavy reader, and have averaged more than 27 books per year over the past decade.
2025 was either my weakest reading year in more than a dozen years — or by far my best. It all depends on whether you count the short children’s books I’ve read over and over again to my infant daughter. Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb is hardly Moby Dick, but one of those is sitting on my shelf with a bookmark a quarter of the way through, and the other’s got a read count in the dozens.
Personally I don’t count short children’s books as part of my reading. (Should I? Leave a comment.) I do count full-length books I read aloud while trying to help her sleep, so Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf translation counts (and worked great, I might add). But even with those, I’m only at six full-length books read this year, with an outside chance at a seventh before the ball drops on the 31st.
The good news is that that still makes me well above average in book count, as our new survey shows:
Six in 10 Americans (59%) say they read at least one book in 2025, a new YouGov survey finds. That’s in line with similar YouGov surveys in 2024 and 2023. Most Americans who did read books only finished a handful of books, while a minority of Americans were plowing through the pages. Here’s what YouGov found about Americans’ 2025 book-reading habits:
Reading inequality
Besides the 40% of Americans who didn’t read any books in 2025, another 27% read one to four books. And 13% read five to nine books. That leaves 19% of Americans who read 10 or more books, including 9% who read 10 to 19 books, 6% who read 20 to 49 books, and 4% who say they read 50 or more books.
The median American read two books in 2025. On average, Americans read eight books. The average books read is higher than the median books read because the small number of heavy readers increases the total number of books read by the same number of people.
Americans with more education are more likely to read more books: Those with postgraduate degrees read a median of five books and an average of 13.6 books, for example, while those with a high school education or less read a median of zero books and an average of 4.6.
On average, Americans 65 and older read significantly more books (12.1) than those 45 to 64 (6.4), 30 to 44 (8.2), and 18 to 29 (5.8). But all four age groups have the same median number of books read. Those 65 and older are no more likely to read any books than younger Americans, but they are more likely to be heavy readers: 24% of those 65 and older have read at least 10 books in 2025, compared to 17% of those 45 to 64, 17% of those 30 to 44, and 19% of those 18 to 29.
Democrats read more books on average than Republicans, though this effect is driven more by heavy readers than the reading habits of typical Democrats and Republicans — both parties have a median books read of two. Independents read less than members of either party, both on average and as a median.
Americans who pay more attention to what’s going on in government and public affairs are more likely to read more books than those who pay less attention.
With most Americans reading no books or just a few books, and a minority reading lots of books, that means that the distribution of the total books read in the U.S. is very unequal. The 4% of Americans who say they read 50 or more books alone account for 46% of all books read. Add in the 6% of Americans who read between 20 and 49 books, and the 9% who read between 10 and 19 books, and the top 19% of U.S. adult citizens account for 82% of all books read in 2025.
The middle 40% read 18% of all books, and the bottom 40% read no books.
Someone who read just three books in 2025 did more book reading than 57% of Americans. Reading five books is more than two-thirds of Americans, and 10 books is more than 81% of Americans read.
What and how Americans read
Among Americans who did read in 2025, about half read only in one type of book: physical, digital, or audiobooks. The other half of readers read books in multiple formats.
Overall in 2025, 46% of Americans read at least one physical book, 24% read at least one digital book, and 23% listened to at least one audiobook. 29% of Americans consumed books in multiple formats, while 23% say they read only physical books, 5% read only digital books, and 2% consumed only audiobooks.
Only 14% of Americans say they prefer to read digital books, but these are some of the country’s heaviest readers. 13% of them say they read 50 or more books in 2025, compared to 4% of those who prefer physical books and 5% of those who prefer audiobooks.
The most popular genre of books that Americans read in 2025 was mystery and crime: 35% of Americans who read at least one book read a mystery or crime novel. Other top genres are history (30%), biography and memoir (27%), thrillers (23%), fantasy (23%), and romance (23%).
Some genres, such as biographies, thrillers, and fantasy, are read by similar shares of men and women. Other genres have sizable gender skews: 42% of male readers read a history book in 2025, compared to 20% of female readers. 32% of women who read at least one book read a romance, compared to 12% of men.
Another factor associated with what types of books Americans read is education. Several genres, including literary fiction, academic books, politics, historical fiction, and science fiction, are substantially more likely to be read by people with college degrees than by those without degrees.
In contrast, books on religion and spirituality, young adult novels, and dramas are slightly more likely to be read by those without degrees. Fantasy, graphic novels, and romance novels are read by similar shares of those with and without college degrees.
About half (51%) of Americans have a library card, while 46% don’t. Around one-quarter (24%) of Americans say they are heavy library users — they check out books at least once a month. Another 20% of Americans have library cards but say they rarely check out books, while 7% have library cards and never check out books. Physical books are the most common choice for library users: Only 9% of Americans have library cards but never check out physical books, while 29% have cards but never check out digital books and 31% have cards but never check out audiobooks.
About 19% of Americans say they use other library services — such as programs and events for children or adults, accessing computers, or just spending time there — at least once a month.
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Carl Bialik contributed to this newsletter.
Very interesting. I'm a reader but will admit this year, I didn't read as much as I wanted. I definitely need to get to the library more.
Interesting info! I’m in the UK