Minneapolis, Seattle are the Nation's Most Literate Metro Areas

Living in frigid Minneapolis is smarter than you might think.
On days where the high is two degrees below zero, I wonder why in the world I live in Minneapolis. Then I remember that this is a great city with lots of great cultural resources and fun activities.
On top of this, I found out today that according to a recent report, the Minneapolis metro area is tied with Seattle for the distinction of most literate metropolitan area in the United States.
Minneapolis’ sister city, St. Paul, is ranked fourth on the list. Since the Minneapolis-St. Paul area is really just one big metro area, that means that combined, our area is no doubt on top. That’s something to think about the next time I’m huddling in front of the fireplace with a good book.
How is this measured? The report doesn’t measure how much people actually read, since this is hard to figure out. Instead, it measured six key indicators for literacy: number of bookstores, newspaper circulation, library resources, educational attainment, periodical publishing resources, and Internet resources.
I must say I do find it interesting that the two most literate metro areas are arguably the coldest and rainiest big cities in America. We do spend an awful lot of time inside, and there’s only so much time you can spend at the Mall of America.
The ten most literate cities are:

• 1) Minneapolis and Seattle, tied
• 3) Washington, D.C.
• 4) St. Paul
• 5) San Francisco
• 6) Atlanta
• 7) Denver
• 8 ) Boston
• 9) St. Louis
• 10) Cincinnati and Portland, tied