In just 10 years, the number of bookstores in the United States fell from 12,558 to 7,548 – a 40% decline, according to the Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns. The number of book publishers fell 23%, and libraries were down 16%.

Number of bookstores
2016: 7,548
2006: 12,558

Number of book publishers
2016: 2,574
2006: 3,335

Number of libraries
2016: 2,223
2006: 2,650

Employment in these three types of establishments fell 32% between 2006 and 2016 – from 267,210 to 181,700. The 86,000 jobs lost in the book industry greatly exceeded the loss of 30,200 coal mining jobs during the same time period.