5 Best Cities for Book Lovers
5. Chapel Hill, NC
Chapel Hill, the westernmost point of North Carolina's Research Triangle, is a college town among college towns, home to the University of North Carolina. Chapel Hill, along with North Carolina State University in Raleigh and Duke University in Durham, is part of one of the world's most important educational enclaves. That kind of brain power concentrated in such a small area is fertile ground for book lovers, and Chapel Hill, with a population of just over 60,000 people, does not disappoint with 43 book establishments per capita.
Many of Chapel Hill's bookshops are located on Franklin Street, the city's main commercial and social thoroughfare. He's Not Here, Top of the Hill, Carolina Brewery, and Linda's Bar & Grill are among the bookstores, grocery shops, cafes, and bars along the boulevard, as are restaurants such as Carolina Coffee Shop, Sutton's, Ye Olde Waffle Shop, and Spanky's. Chapel Hill, in reality, is a foodie's paradise as well as a great place for book lovers. It was also dubbed "America's Foodiest Small Town" by Bon Appétit Magazine.
But, at its core, Chapel Hill is one of America's premier college sports hubs. Even bookish Tar Heel fans put down their latest novel to watch the school's perennial top ten basketball teams play at the Dean Smith Center, the third-largest basketball arena in the United States. Not to be outdone, the university also has one of the best women's soccer and men's lacrosse programs in the country, both of which play at the brand new Dorrance Field.
Chapel Hill is just one of several top-ten college towns. Apartments, as in most college towns, are both plentiful and expensive. A one-bedroom apartment rents for an average of $999 per month.
4. Ann Arbor, MI
Ann Arbor, like Chapel Hill, is a true college town, with all the trappings of on- and off-campus life surrounding the University of Michigan. But, unlike the Tar Heels on Tobacco Road, the Wolverines can lay claim to the title of "Smartest City in America." With that level of intelligence and a world-class university, it's no surprise that this mid-sized city has more than 20 bookstores and 30 libraries.
The word "arbor" comes from the Latin word "arboretum." "It should come as no surprise that the city has a plethora of parks and green spaces, ideal for the summer booklover. “Tree Town” is a fictional town "More than 100,000 trees line its streets and are housed in nearly 160 parks, many of which are located along the banks of the Huron River, such as Fuller Park, which is tucked into an oxbow bend adjacent to the University Hospital and has a number of athletic fields, a playground, a bike path, and a 50-meter swimming pool.
Most of life revolves around the massive university, as it does in most college towns. And all is huge here. The University of Michigan enrolls 46,000 students and hires another 25,000 people in a community with a population of just 120,000 people. But Michigan Stadium, home of the university's football team and the country's largest stadium, which once held a record 115,000 fans, is the school's most huge and well-known feature. Ann Arbor has long been established as a haven for social activism and radical political movements, just like Berkeley (still to come) 2,500 miles to the west.
Bandemer Park has a disc golf course, Argo Park has a canoe and kayak facility, Furstenberg Nature Area has a wetlands boardwalk and two wetland overlooks, and Gallup Park has a self-contained fishing pond for kids. In addition, the University's Nichols Arboretum, which spans four properties, houses hundreds of plant and tree species for research.
The Detroit suburb is a convenient location and Forbes Magazine's fourth "Most Livable City" in America, located just 45 minutes from downtown. With beautiful parks (in any season), the smartest population in the country, and a plethora of book-related businesses, it's easy to see why book lovers would enjoy living in this city. To do so, a typical one-bedroom apartment would set you back $1,415 per month.
3. Pensacola, FL
The city of Pensacola, FL, is known as "The Cradle of Naval Aviation," and it is home to (or rather, just to the south of) Naval Air Station Pensacola (NASP), America's oldest Naval Air Station, dating back to before World War I. John Glenn and Neil Armstrong both trained here, and the base is home to the famed Blue Angels.
Pensacola is a military town full of smart people doing critical national security work. And this smart city, with a population of around 53,000, is the third-best in America for booklovers, with 43 bookstores and libraries per 100,000 residents. Congratulations, Zulu.
Pensacola, on the other hand, is a city with beautiful beaches, cool gulf breezes, and one of the best beer towns in the country. It's the westernmost city on Florida's Panhandle, situated on the north shore of Pensacola Bay, just 30 minutes from the golden sands of the Pensacola Beach barrier island. It's the most popular beach destination on the northern Gulf Coast, and it's just a two-hour drive from both the Spring Break hotspot of Panama City and the glitzy casinos of Biloxi, Mississippi.
There's plenty for bookworms, whether you're reading on the beach with a pair of big sunglasses, tucked into a bench in one of the many parks along the bay, or perusing the 20,000-item collection at the Naval Air Station Pensacola Library. There are also a lot of rental units, which is common around military bases. A one-bedroom apartment will cost you around $943 per month on average.
2. Berkeley, CA
Berkeley, California, is well-known for two things: the University of California at Berkeley (or simply Cal, if you're a sports fan) and a long history of social liberalism, hippiedom, and activism. Whether the cause or the effect, this means Berkeley has a lot of smart people. So it's not difficult to imagine that the East Bay city is one of the best in America for bookworms, with a total of 60 bookstores and lenders, including nearly 20 institutional libraries, mostly associated with the university community.
Berkeley is a well-established land of social change and higher education, located just north of Oakland and across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco. Although UC and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of the US Department of Energy are the largest employers, the community's brainpower is used by a wide range of businesses. Bayer, Siemens, Kaiser Permanente, and other major companies have facilities here, as well as the original Peet's Coffee location and Chez Panisse, the founder of "California cuisine."
Away from the University, Berkeley is a collection of neighborhoods, just like any other big city. Downtown Berkeley, located near the University of California campus, is primarily a retail business district. There are numerous student housing and rental complexes on the Southside. A number of office plazas, loft apartments, and co-working spaces can be found in West Berkeley. North Berkeley is a hotspot for celebrity chefs and well-known restaurants. There are also a number of apartment buildings, classic California duplexes, and single-family detached homes scattered throughout.
Berkeley's personality revolves around its university's social and intellectual reputation. With cafes, bookstores, and parks filled with both students and full-time residents, book lovers will have no trouble finding a quiet place to read a few chapters. However, living in this Bay Area town is not inexpensive. A one-bedroom apartment costs $3,334 per month on average.
1. Cambridge, MA
To no one's surprise, the Massachusetts town of Cambridge is the No. 1 city in America for booklovers, with a ridiculous 51 book-related establishments per 100,000 Cantabrigians. Of course, the Boston suburb is home to both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which explains why Cambridge has 22 institutional libraries, far more than any other city in the top ten and the fifth-most in the entire United States, trailing only the much larger cities of Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago.
Of course, much of daily life in Cambridge, which is named after the English university, revolves around Harvard and MIT. With a combined workforce of nearly 21,000, the two universities are the city's two largest employers. Harvard's museums include the Harvard Art Museum, the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and the Semitic Museum, while the MIT Museum and List Visual Arts Center are located on the campus of the technology school. And two important music venues, Club Passim, a legendary folk club founded in 1958, and The Sinclair, a relatively new 500-capacity Bowery Presents rock club, are both located just off Harvard's campus.
But Cambridge, located just across the Charles River from Back Bay and downtown Boston, is more than just its universities. Since the 1960s, the city has been a high-tech business center. Kendall Square, as it has been since the 1980s, is a major software hub, housing offices for Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. The city is also a biotech enclave, with a number of major corporations' headquarters and laboratories. And, while Harvard Square receives the most attention, it is only one of six historic Cambridge squares spread throughout the city.
Without a doubt, Cambridge is the ultimate high-end university town. Smart people go to school here, and smart people live here. And, as the best city in America for book lovers, that is unlikely to change anytime soon.
Because of its proximity to Boston, Cambridge has become a bedroom community for bankers and brokers, with elevated but stable housing prices. Rental prices remain high for students, singles, and young families alike. A typical one-bedroom apartment rents for $2,986 per month.
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