Fewer Americans are reading for pleasure, and the decline is both steady and steep.
According to a new study analyzing 20 years of national data, “the proportion who read on an average day declined over the last 20 years, from highs of 29% in 2004 to lows of 18% in 2023; a relative decrease of 2% per year.”
The findings, published as a preprint by researchers at University College London and the University of Florida, draw from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), a nationally representative dataset involving over 236,000 participants.
Unlike previous studies that relied on retrospective self-reporting, ATUS uses detailed 24-hour time diaries, allowing researchers to sidestep much of the recall and social desirability bias that often clouds reading statistics.
How Much Reading Is Actually Happening?
Reading for pleasure—which includes not only books but also magazines, newspapers, audiobooks, and e-readers—has long been championed for its role in promoting “comprehension skills, vocabulary, logical reasoning, imagination, emotional intelligence, and empathy,” as well as “academic achievement, financially rewarding employment, career growth, and involvement in civic life.”
But even with that glowing resume, reading seems to be losing its grip on Americans’ daily lives. “In 2023, participants spent an average of 16 minutes (SD=52) reading per day.
Yet only 18% of participants reported reading during the diary day; the remaining 82% did not read.” Those who did read spent about 1 hour and 31 minutes on it—slightly more than in previous years.
That slight increase in duration, however, does not compensate for the overall downward trend. “The engagement rate exhibited a gradual decline following a peak of 29% in 2004, with the lowest rate in 2023.”
The researchers also looked at where and with whom Americans were reading. “In 2023, most participants read alone (60%), with a partner (17%), or with multiple people present (14%).” And despite efforts to promote community reading programs, “92% did this in their own home.” Public spaces like libraries barely registered: “0.03% [reported reading] at a library.”
One constant has been the low rates of reading with children.
In 2023, “reading for personal interest was more common (participation rate=16%) than reading with children (2%).” And while the total population sample included many parents, “a large majority of those with young children did not read with them.” That’s particularly troubling given the strong evidence that “regular reading during childhood is a strong determinant of reading ability and engagement later in life.”
Not Everyone Is Reading Equally
Equally worrying are the widening disparities in reading habits across demographic groups. “By 2023, Black participants had a 45% lower prevalence of daily reading than White participants.” The gap also widened by education level: “Those with postgraduate education had a 2.93 times higher prevalence of daily reading than those with high school or less education.” The income gap followed suit: “By 2023, those with the highest income had a 1.57 times higher prevalence of daily reading than those with the lowest income.”
Disability status was also a significant factor. “There were increasing disparities for disability status, with increasingly lower prevalence of reading among those with a disability (vs no disability) from 2003 to 2023.” Interestingly, the pandemic briefly reversed this trend: “The proportion of people with a disability who read, and the amount of time they spent reading, dramatically increased in 2021.” But engagement levels among this group fell again by 2023.
The study does not directly assess causes, but the authors note, “People have a finite amount of leisure time, and limited cognitive capacity, resulting in an attention economy whereby activities are in competition.” They also point to “displacement theory,” which “suggests that increasing time and attention spent on other forms of media (e.g. digital media, social media) may replace reading for personal interest.”
This isn’t the first warning bell.
In 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts declared “Reading at Risk.” By 2022, just 49% of adults reported reading a book for pleasure in the past 12 months—down from 61% in 1992.
But the ATUS data adds a new layer of granularity by focusing on daily behavior.
What Can Be Done?
Importantly, the authors stress that not all forms of reading are captured in the survey. “It is possible that some digital/virtual reading was classified under other digital/virtual activities,” especially reading on smartphones or tablets, or engaging with blogs and online news.
And while audiobook and e-reader examples were added to the ATUS in 2020 and 2011 respectively, reading on tablets and smartphones “was not explicitly included in examples.”
Even so, they argue the trend is clear. “This decline is concerning given earlier evidence for downward trends in reading for pleasure from the 1940s through to the start of our study in 2003, suggesting at least 80 years of continued decline in reading for pleasure.”
Policy implications are substantial. “Reading policy often focusses on children and young people… but policymakers must also consider adults, as reading has broader benefits for health and wellbeing, particularly for stress, depression and sleep disorders, which are all on the rise in the US.”
Existing initiatives like the NEA’s Big Read and even Oprah’s Book Club may not be enough. “It is possible that these initiatives are only reaching groups who already read, meaning further action is required targeting high-risk groups, particularly where disparities appear to be increasing.”
With the launch of the new National Arts Statistics and Evidence-based Reporting Center (NASERC) tracking reading patterns from 2024 onwards, the researchers hope their findings will serve as a baseline. “Our findings thus demonstrate the urgent need for more targeted strategies to increase opportunities for reading for the whole population, and particularly among high-risk groups.”
As the study concludes: “Continuing to monitor daily leisure reading levels, as well as the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics influencing reading, will be vital to understand the impacts of future policies.”