Only 15.......? Really......? 

I don’t know if you’ve had this experience recently, but I’ve been bombarded with a ‘meme’ on TicTok about the fact that the ‘average’ American house has only 15 books in it. Funnily the TicTokers I’ve seen have responded with incredulity and have said that they have at least 50 and in a few cases as many as 100 in their homes. Naturally this made me chuckle a bit as I’ve probably got at least 1500 and likely to be more in the region of 3-4K. I am still *thinking* of actually counting them but the amount of effort involved is putting me off. If they were all on shelves I’d give it a shot, but at least half of them are stacked on the floor (and a futon in my ‘spare’ room). Anyway, I was intrigued by the whole 15 books thing and did maybe 20-30 seconds of ‘research’ to discover how accurate it was – and found this:    

How Many Books Does The Average Person Own? 

By Rakib Sarwar 

September 6, 2023 

How many books is a lot to own? How many books does the average person buy? How many books does an average person read every year? How many books does the average person read? How many books are in the average American household? 

So, how many books does the average person own? The answer may surprise you. According to the Pew Research Center, the average American household owns around 29 books. However, this number is slowly declining as people move towards digital reading options. Interestingly, though, Americans still buy more physical books than any other country in the world with an average of 12 books purchased per year. And although we’re reading less print material than ever before, we’re still averaging about 5-6 books a year. 

How many books does the average person buy? 

The average person buys or collects about 12 books a year. You may think that this number is too low, but it really isn’t. When you consider how little time we have to read, the average person only has a small window in which they can purchase books. And unless you’re a professional reader, chances are, you may only buy one or two books every six months. This is especially true if you’re a busy individual. In fact, according to the Pew Research Center, it is estimated that millennials buy about 4 books per year while Gen Xers buy around 8. So, if you look at these numbers, it’s not surprising to learn that the average person only purchases 12 books per year. 

How many books does an average person read every year? 

Although the average number of books purchased is around 12, how many of those books do people actually read? According to a study by Pew Research Center, the average American reads just 4 books in a year. This is where things get interesting. If you look at this statistic over time, you can see that it has shifted. 

For example, in 2021 the average American read 24 books a year. Of course, this was during a time when ebooks were becoming wildly popular and contained an abundance of information. In the years leading up to 2021, though, the number of books read was much smaller. So clearly, something is happening in the world of publishing that is pushing the average person to read more. 

How many books does the average person read? 

The answer to this question depends largely on the individual. There are some people who have developed a love for reading, and as such, they want to read every day. If you’re someone who reads a lot, chances are that you probably average around 60 books a year. On the other hand, there are some people who only read a book or two every six months. This number is much smaller, but not everyone likes to read or needs to read. 

How many books are in the average American household? 

This number is changing from year to year, but it’s currently hovering around 30 books. This is an interesting number because most homes today are filled with more than one type of media. For example, many homes today have a TV in every room. This means that the average household may actually own around 100 books. 

However, the number of books in a home isn’t always reflective of its owner. If you have young children, you probably have a number of children’s books lying around. You may also have a few books that you plan on reading at some point in the future. Regardless of how many books you have, it’s likely that you’re buying an average number of books each year. 

Although the number of books in an average American household has decreased, there is still a demand for books and book ownership. Owning fewer books doesn’t mean that people are reading less, it could just mean that they are reading different types of books. With more ways to access information, such as the internet and e-readers, owning physical copies of books may not be as important as it once was.  

[Despite being a pretty poorly written ‘article’ it does show that I, and no doubt many people who regularly read/contribute to this Blog, am an outlier in this regard (plus not being American so the reported stats don’t really apply!). I’ve always been surprised by how LOW such ‘averages’ are and the fact that this must mean that a significant number of people must be reading VERY few books per year, if any at all. Unless people like me are SO out there that we’re practically a different class of human. Thoughts?]