In U.S., Library Visits Outpaced Trips to Movies in 2019 via Gallup

In U.S., Library Visits Outpaced Trips to Movies in 2019

Gallup: 1.24.2020 by Justin McCarthy

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Library most frequented by young adults, women and low-income households

Average U.S. adult attended five movies and five live sporting events

Age and income among key factors in frequency of activities

Visiting the library remains the most common cultural activity Americans engage in, by far. The average 10.5 trips to the library U.S. adults report taking in 2019 exceeds their participation in eight other common leisure activities. Americans attend live music or theatrical events and visit national or historic parks roughly four times a year on average and visit museums and gambling casinos 2.5 times annually. Trips to amusement or theme parks (1.5) and zoos (.9) are the least common activities among this list.

Women Visit Libraries Nearly Twice as Frequently as Men

Men and woman report doing most activities at about the same rate, but there are a few key differences:

Women report visiting the library nearly twice as frequently as men do, 13.4 to 7.5 visits.

Men are more likely than women to visit casinos, attend sporting events and visit national or historical parks.

Reports of Leisure and Activities, by Age Group

Reports of Leisure and Activities, by Income Group

Reports of Leisure and Activities, by Children Under 18 in Household

Reports of Leisure and Activities, by Region

Bottom Line

Despite the proliferation of digital-based activities over the past two decades -- including digital books, podcasts, streaming entertainment services and advanced gaming -- libraries have endured as a place Americans visit nearly monthly on average. Whether because they offer services like free Wi-Fi, movie rentals, or activities for children, libraries are most utilized by young adults, women and residents of low-income households.  READ MORE >>

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Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 18.0

Lexical Density: 60.2%

Total word count 264

Unique word count 159

17 hard words

Sentence count 8

Rumors of the Demise of Books Greatly Exaggerated :: Gallup Poll

Rumors of the Demise of Books Greatly Exaggerated

Gallup Poll: 1.06.2017 by Art Swift and Steve Ander

Despite the abundance of digital diversions vying for their time and attention, most Americans are still reading books. In fact, they are consuming books at nearly the same rate that they were when Gallup last asked this question in 2002 -- before smartphones, Facebook or Twitter became ubiquitous. More than one in three (35%) appear to be heavy readers, reading 11 or more books in the past year, while close to half (48%) read between one and 10 and just 16% read none.

The number of Americans who say they read no books in the past year has doubled since the first time Gallup asked this in 1978, from 8% then to 16% now, but has been fairly steady near the current level since 1990.

The results are based on an open-ended question that asked half of Americans to recall the number of books they read all or part of the way through in the past year -- the trend wording -- and the other half to recall the number of books they read or listened to all or part of the way through. Given that there was no meaningful difference in the answers, the results to the two versions were combined.

Story Highlights

•35% say they read more than 11 books in the past year

•53% of young adults read between one and 10 books in the past year

•73% prefer printed books to e-readers or audio books

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