Bookstores in the United States — the numbers
We maintain 15,615 bookstores across the country. Below is what that looks like by state: raw count, count per 100,000 residents, and how complete the listings are. Updated November 2026.
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a cut we don't show — a single metro, a longer time range — write to
contact@thebookstoreatlas.com and you'll get it the
same day. Full CSVs for this and our other categories:
download the
dataset on GitHub (CC BY 4.0).
Download the numbers. Two files, no sign-up, CC BY 4.0 —
credit BookstoreAtlas and use them anywhere (a link is welcome, followed or nofollow):
bookstore_states.csv
(one row per state: count, per 100,000 residents, share with a website, phone and hours)
· bookstore_cities.csv
(every city with three or more bookstores). Updated November 2026.
Density: bookstores per 100,000 residents
Population is the 2020 Census count. Density says more than a raw count: Vermont has 11.7 per 100,000 — 3.3× the rate of Louisiana.
| State | Bookstores | Per 100k | With a website | With a phone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 222 | 4.4 | 65% | 93% |
| Alaska | 51 | 7 | 63% | 92% |
| Arizona | 261 | 3.6 | 61% | 93% |
| Arkansas | 142 | 4.7 | 54% | 92% |
| California | 1673 | 4.2 | 65% | 93% |
| Colorado | 328 | 5.7 | 62% | 95% |
| Connecticut | 197 | 5.5 | 64% | 93% |
| Delaware | 54 | 5.5 | 65% | 96% |
| Florida | 827 | 3.8 | 59% | 94% |
| Georgia | 452 | 4.2 | 62% | 92% |
| Hawaii | 53 | 3.6 | 53% | 91% |
| Idaho | 93 | 5.1 | 60% | 88% |
| Illinois | 561 | 4.4 | 67% | 92% |
| Indiana | 323 | 4.8 | 62% | 93% |
| Iowa | 164 | 5.1 | 66% | 93% |
| Kansas | 139 | 4.7 | 64% | 92% |
| Kentucky | 234 | 5.2 | 64% | 94% |
| Louisiana | 164 | 3.5 | 58% | 91% |
| Maine | 154 | 11.3 | 65% | 92% |
| Maryland | 262 | 4.2 | 68% | 91% |
| Massachusetts | 461 | 6.6 | 70% | 93% |
| Michigan | 544 | 5.4 | 64% | 94% |
| Minnesota | 266 | 4.7 | 70% | 94% |
| Mississippi | 113 | 3.8 | 50% | 93% |
| Missouri | 295 | 4.8 | 63% | 91% |
| Montana | 90 | 8.3 | 62% | 97% |
| Nebraska | 92 | 4.7 | 60% | 97% |
| Nevada | 125 | 4 | 63% | 92% |
| New Hampshire | 113 | 8.2 | 66% | 94% |
| New Jersey | 341 | 3.7 | 64% | 94% |
| New Mexico | 123 | 5.8 | 66% | 100% |
| New York | 1077 | 5.3 | 69% | 93% |
| North Carolina | 535 | 5.1 | 60% | 92% |
| North Dakota | 46 | 5.9 | 59% | 89% |
| Ohio | 513 | 4.3 | 62% | 94% |
| Oklahoma | 195 | 4.9 | 58% | 94% |
| Oregon | 320 | 7.6 | 69% | 95% |
| Pennsylvania | 679 | 5.2 | 65% | 94% |
| Rhode Island | 64 | 5.8 | 69% | 91% |
| South Carolina | 229 | 4.5 | 63% | 95% |
| South Dakota | 36 | 4.1 | 61% | 97% |
| Tennessee | 340 | 4.9 | 61% | 92% |
| Texas | 1058 | 3.6 | 62% | 93% |
| Utah | 166 | 5.1 | 68% | 95% |
| Vermont | 75 | 11.7 | 80% | 99% |
| Virginia | 440 | 5.1 | 65% | 92% |
| Washington | 445 | 5.8 | 70% | 96% |
| Washington DC | 50 | 7.2 | 70% | 94% |
| West Virginia | 101 | 5.6 | 64% | 96% |
| Wisconsin | 286 | 4.9 | 67% | 94% |
| Wyoming | 43 | 7.5 | 49% | 91% |
Cities with the most bookstores
| City | State | Bookstores |
|---|---|---|
| New York | New York | 291 |
| Chicago | Illinois | 155 |
| Los Angeles | California | 145 |
| Houston | Texas | 107 |
| Brooklyn | New York | 95 |
| Seattle | Washington | 95 |
| San Francisco | California | 93 |
| Portland | Oregon | 90 |
| Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | 83 |
| San Antonio | Texas | 78 |
| Las Vegas | Nevada | 74 |
| San Diego | California | 65 |
| Austin | Texas | 65 |
| Denver | Colorado | 64 |
| Dallas | Texas | 54 |
| Washington | Washington DC | 50 |
| Minneapolis | Minnesota | 50 |
| Indianapolis | Indiana | 49 |
| Miami | Florida | 47 |
| Cincinnati | Ohio | 47 |
| Orlando | Florida | 44 |
| Raleigh | North Carolina | 44 |
| Nashville | Tennessee | 43 |
| Phoenix | Arizona | 42 |
| Baltimore | Maryland | 42 |
How this is built
Locations come from Overture Maps (open data), filtered to bookstores in the US and cleaned: duplicates merged, dead entries dropped, phone numbers normalized. Websites, opening hours and amenities are checked against each business's own site. We keep monthly snapshots, so the counts above are a point in time, not a running total — ask if you need an earlier one.