Name a City and This Search Tool Will Tell You Which Books Are Set There

Looking for some book-themed travel inspiration? The website Crossword-Solver produced an interactive search for users to see where books are set closest to whatever zip code you choose.

While there may be cities in the United States you have yet to visit, if you’re a regular reader, you might already be familiar with the the cities that most books are set in. Crossword-Solver pulled data from Goodreads to find which cities books are most commonly set in the US.

Photo: Crossword-Solver

New York and California wrestle to be the state with the most book settings, with New York winning with a slight uptick — 4,887 books for New York versus 4,505 books for California. When it comes to cities, though, New York City wins by a much larger margin with 2,609 books set in the Big Apple alone. Hollywood follows with 984 books. And Chicago has slightly fewer, with 984 books set in its city. It makes sense why Hollywood and New York placed so high on the list. These cities attract dream chasers, which makes for a great plot.

Top 10 cities where books are setNew York, New York — 2,609 booksHollywood, California — 984 booksChicago, Illinois — 953 booksNew Orleans, Louisiana — 671 booksBoston Massachusetts — 636 booksSeattle, Washington — 636 booksDenver, Colorado — 478 booksLas Vegas, Nevada — 414 booksAtlanta, Georgia — 296 booksPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania — 291 books

To find what cities in each state books are set, Crossword-Solver used location tag data from Goodreads. It then grouped locations into their respective states, calculated the total location tags for each, and then grouped them to find the city with the most location tags.

The next time you’re looking for something to read, just know your next adventure can be as close or far away as you choose.

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