A recent study by Central Connecticut State University ranked the nation’s largest cities by their reading culture -- how literate they are -- based on six categories: bookstores, residents’ educational attainment, newspaper circulation, use of online resources, the library system, and periodical publishing resources.

Although the focus of the study was on reading culture, not test scores, cities that ranked as less literate were also less educated. The 10 cities with the poorest reading habits were also in the bottom 25 percent nationwide for people with a college degree and for people with a high school diploma.

Methodology: Based on the report published by Central Connecticut State University, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the literacy ranking of 77 U.S. cities with populations of at least 250,000. The study reviewed city literacy based on six categories — library systems, bookstores, educational attainment, digital readership, and newspapers and other publications. Education metrics considered by Miller are from 2012, library system data is from fiscal year 2010, and circulation, publication, and bookstore figures are from 2013. To determine the availability of each reading material, the study measured circulation relative to the size of the population. 24/7 Wall St. also reviewed 2012 data from the Census Bureau, including income, and poverty.