LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – A recent study delved into book ownership trends in America as well as how physical books were organized within personal libraries. 

Yougov, an international online research data and analytics technology group – polled more than 29,000 Americans about their book owning habits and found that fewer and fewer are owning physical books in the digital age. 

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While 85% admitted to owning at least one physical book, one in every five people polled said that they own between one and 10 physical books, 14% said that they owned between 11 and 25 books, and 13% admitted they own between 26 and 50 according to the study. 

Considering that 9% of respondents said that they don’t own any physical books, at least 69% of Americans own no more than 100 books. Out of the respondents who had at least 100 books, 4% own somewhere between 500 and 1,000 books, and a mere 3% own more than 1,000 books. 

Age appeared to have some relation to to the number of books someone owned, as the fewest number of respondents who owned at least 100 physical books, 19% were between 31 and 35   years of age, while 31% had as many books who were ages 51 to 55 years old, and 42% who were between 71 and 75 years old possessed at least 100 physical books. 

Respondents were also asked how they organized their books, with the most popular method in the study was no organization, though the second most preferred method was by genre or subject. 

While the least popular method, organizing by color is slightly more common for those aged 30 and under, 6% or respondents, while less than a percent of book owners 65 and older use the method. According to YouGov, this was consistent with a previous study from 2018. 

Despite the study’s findings, physical books are far more common than audiobook ownership, with only half of respondents owning a single Ebook, and 9% said that they owned at least 100 Ebooks. 

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Book sales have been in a general decline since 2008, which sales netting $16.8 billion in the U.S., though in 2022 sales did not break $9 billion. Last year did break pre-pandemic sales levels at $8.93 billion, and 2020 is an all time low in the past two decades with book sales making a combined $6.5 billion. 

For more information and other findings about book owners, see here.