16.1%
2025 (latest)
READ ON AN AVERAGE DAY
percent of people 15+ who read for personal interest on an average day · 2003–2025 · higher is better · BLS American Time Use Survey (series TUU30105AA01006315)
26.3%
2003
27.7%
high · 2004
16.1%
low · 2024
−10 pts
since 2003
┊ dashed lines mark 2008 Global financial crisis · 2020 COVID-19 pandemic
Method & caveats. BLS American Time Use Survey time-diary activity "reading for personal interest," civilians aged 15 and older, all days of the week. Diary coding, not a survey question, so there is no wording drift. 2020 was not published (COVID cut data collection) and is a real one-year hole. The share of the population that read at all on a given day — down from about a quarter in 2003 to about a sixth today.
Sources
Every value on this page is read from the publisher below. Current and historical source documents:
- https://www.bls.gov/tus/
- https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2/timeseries/data/TUU30105AA01006315
- https://github.com/danielmiessler/substrate/tree/main/Data/US-Societal-Health
Data
| Year | Read on an Average Day | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 16.1% | +0.0 pts |
| 2024 | 16.1% | −0.1 pts |
| 2023 | 16.2% | −0.5 pts |
| 2022 | 16.7% | −1.2 pts |
| 2021 | 17.9% | −0.1 pts |
| 2019 | 18% | +0.5 pts |
| 2018 | 17.5% | −1.2 pts |
| 2017 | 18.7% | −0.8 pts |
| 2016 | 19.5% | −1.6 pts |
| 2015 | 21.1% | −0.2 pts |
| 2014 | 21.3% | +0.8 pts |
| 2013 | 20.5% | −0.2 pts |
| 2012 | 20.7% | +0.7 pts |
| 2011 | 20% | −1.1 pts |
| 2010 | 21.1% | −3.1 pts |
| 2009 | 24.2% | +0.3 pts |
| 2008 | 23.9% | −1.0 pts |
| 2007 | 24.9% | −1.5 pts |
| 2006 | 26.4% | −0.6 pts |
| 2005 | 27% | −0.7 pts |
| 2004 | 27.7% | +1.4 pts |
| 2003 | 26.3% | — |
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