Nonfiction readership by age is best understood through several measures rather than one single rate. U.S. surveys report overall book access, literary reading, nonfiction topics, and format use across different years. The figures below are survey estimates for clearly stated periods and geographies, not book-sales shares.
Contents
- What the 2012 national survey shows
- Any-book readership across age groups
- Literary reading provides a comparison
- Nonfiction topics and education benchmarks
- How formats vary by age in 2025
- Earlier format and young-adult patterns
What the 2012 national survey shows
The 2012 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts provides a useful national baseline for book readership. It measured whether U.S. adults read any book during the prior 12 months, with work and school reading excluded where stated. The survey does not publish an age-by-nonfiction-subgenre rate in the figures used here, so its age results should be read as overall book-readership context.
In 2012, overall U.S. adult any-book readership was 54.5%, compared with 54.3% in 2008. The age profile was not a simple climb or decline. Adults ages 65–74 reached 61.1% in 2012, while adults ages 75 and older recorded 52.4%. The corresponding 2008 estimates were 54.5% and 47.4%.
The same source reports that 19.2% of U.S. adult readers read only nonfiction in 2012, while 58.1% read both fiction and nonfiction. These are reader-mix estimates, not the share of all adults who read nonfiction, and they should not be combined with the age-specific any-book rates as though they measured the same population.
Any-book readership across age groups
The age-specific any-book figures from the 2008 and 2012 U.S. SPPA are summarized below.
| Age group | 2008 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|
| 18–24 | 50.7% | 51.8% |
| 25–34 | 54.1% | 54.8% |
| 35–44 | 56.2% | 53.0% |
| 45–54 | 54.2% | 53.2% |
| 55–64 | 58.4% | 56.5% |
| 65–74 | 54.5% | 61.1% |
| 75 and older | 47.4% | 52.4% |
Source: 2012 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, measuring the prior 12 months in 2008 and 2012.
Among adults ages 18–24, any-book readership was 50.7% in 2008 and 51.8% in 2012. The rate for ages 25–34 was 54.1% and 54.8%, respectively. Ages 35–44 moved from 56.2% to 53.0%, while ages 45–54 moved from 54.2% to 53.2%. For ages 55–64, the estimates were 58.4% in 2008 and 56.5% in 2012.
The older groups also changed between the two survey years. Ages 65–74 rose from 54.5% to 61.1%. Adults 75 and older rose from 47.4% to 52.4%. Because these are estimates from two survey periods, the figures describe the measured results for those years; they do not establish a long-term age trend by themselves.
Other 2012 SPPA comparisons show substantial differences associated with sex and education. Women’s any-book readership was 61.7% in 2008 and 63.6% in 2012, while men’s was 46.3% and 44.7%. Adults with graduate-school education recorded 80.8% in 2008 and 81.7% in 2012. College graduates recorded 74.1% and 72.5%, and adults with some college recorded 60.0% and 59.8%. Adults with some high school recorded 33.4% in 2008 and 27.7% in 2012.
These education figures matter when interpreting age comparisons: an age group’s overall readership rate can reflect a mixture of educational backgrounds, while the figures above are separate demographic estimates.
Literary reading provides a comparison
Literary reading is not the same thing as nonfiction reading, but it provides a second readership benchmark in the same 2012 SPPA. The source’s literary category covers reading measured by that survey, while the nonfiction figures concern the reported fiction/nonfiction mix and topics. They should therefore be compared as distinct measures.
Literary reading among ages 18–24 was 51.7% in 2008 and 47.6% in 2012. Among ages 25–34, it was 50.1% and 47.7%. Ages 35–44 recorded 50.8% and 45.1%, and ages 45–54 recorded 50.3% and 44.6%. For ages 55–64, literary reading was 53.1% in 2008 and 48.2% in 2012.
The 65–74 group recorded literary reading of 49.1% in 2008 and 52.0% in 2012. Adults 75 and older recorded 42.3% and 43.8%. Across all U.S. adults, literary reading was 50.2% in 2008 and 46.9% in 2012.
The same source reports literary reading of 58.0% for women in 2008 and 56.1% in 2012, compared with 41.9% and 36.9% for men. White adults recorded 55.7% and 52.2%, while Hispanic adults recorded 31.9% and 31.0%. Adults with a college degree recorded 66.6% and 63.0%; adults with graduate-school education recorded 71.2% and 69.5%.
The comparison shows why a broad “readership by age” label needs a definition. Any-book reading and literary reading overlap, but neither one is an age-specific nonfiction rate.
Nonfiction topics and education benchmarks
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Book Reading: Topics page supplies more direct nonfiction-related benchmarks. In 2017, 31% of U.S. adults read at least one biography or memoir during the prior year. In the same year, 39% read a book on religion or spirituality.
History shows a reported sex difference for 2017: 40% of men read a history book, compared with 29% of women. This is a topic-specific estimate for U.S. adults in 2017, not a general nonfiction rate and not an age breakdown.
The same source reports education differences for 2022. Among adults whose terminal degree was a bachelor’s degree, 37% read at least one history work during the prior year. Among adults with a terminal high-school diploma, the rate was 25%. These figures make education an important companion variable when considering who reads nonfiction topics.
For comparison, 40% of U.S. adults read literature such as novels, short stories, poetry, or plays in 2022. When listeners were included, the participation rate rose from approximately 40% to close to 46%. That change illustrates how the measured result can depend on whether listening is included, a consideration that also matters for format comparisons.
The 2017 biography, memoir, religion, spirituality, and history results are topic benchmarks. They do not support a claim that one age group had a particular nonfiction-topic rate, because the supplied source figures do not provide that age-by-topic cross-tabulation.
How formats vary by age in 2025
Pew Research Center’s Book reading habits in the U.S. vary by education, age and other factors reports survey results collected October 6–16, 2025. These figures describe the share of each age group using specific book formats or reading any book in any format during the measured period.
| Age group | E-book | Audiobook | Any format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18–29 | 66% | 41% | 32% | 78% |
| 30–49 | — | 33% | 33% | 76% |
| 50–64 | — | 26% | 23% | 71% |
| 65 and older | 65% | 23% | 13% | — |
The supplied Pew figures show several age differences. Ages 18–29 had the highest e-book readership among the four groups at 41%. Their print readership was 66%, above audiobook listening at 32%, and their any-format book readership was 78%, the highest reported rate. Ages 30–49 had e-book and audiobook readership of 33% each and any-format readership of 76%, two points below ages 18–29.
Among ages 50–64, e-book readership was 26%, above audiobook listening at 23%. This group had the lowest any-format readership among the four groups at 71%. Among adults 65 and older, print readership was 65%, above e-book readership at 23%. Audiobook listening was 13%, the lowest of the four groups and 10 points below the 23% e-book rate.
The 2025 results are format measures, not nonfiction-topic measures. They can help describe how nonfiction may be accessed by different age groups, but they do not show what share of each format’s readers chose nonfiction.
Earlier format and young-adult patterns
Pew Research Center’s Majority of Americans Are Still Reading Print Books reports a separate 2016 snapshot. In that survey, 80% of adults ages 18–29 read a book during the prior year, compared with 67% of adults age 65 and older. Print-book readership was 72% for ages 18–29 and 61% for adults 65 and older. Digital-only readership was 6% among ages 18–29, 7% among ages 30–49, and 5% among adults 50 and older. The typical college graduate read 7 books during the prior year.
The print result was reported twice in the source figures: 72% of adults ages 18–29 read print books versus 61% of adults age 65 and older. It is retained here once because it is the same 2016 estimate.
Pew’s Part 2: The general reading habits of Americans reports that 82% of adults ages 18–29 read a book during the prior year in its December 2011 survey, compared with 68% of adults age 65 and older. Readers age 65 and older had the highest average number of books read among the age cohorts. In the same survey, 83% of Americans ages 16–29 read a book during the prior year.
Another Pew report, Younger Americans’ Reading Habits and Technology Use, found that 43% of adults under 30 reported reading a book daily in the 2013 survey. It reported prior-year book reading of 88% for adults under 30, compared with 79% for adults age 30 and older. In January 2014, 37% of adults ages 18–29 reported reading an e-book during the prior year, 73% reported reading a print book, and 15% reported listening to an audiobook.
Taken together, these snapshots show why nonfiction readership by age should be described with the survey year, definition, and format attached. Overall book reading, literary reading, a nonfiction topic, and print or digital access answer different questions, even when they are reported as percentages.