Ranking States by Number of Bookstores

There's an interesting article on the Publishers Weekly site about the total number of bookstores in each state.  I don't know what I expected the numbers (based on 2012 data) to look like, but I am struck by what seems to me to be the low number of outlets in most states.  

Maybe that's because I am so attuned to spotting bookstores whenever I drive that they sometimes seem to be everywhere.  Maybe it's because I live in one of the largest cities in the U.S. and several bookstores are within 10 miles of my home.  Whatever the reason, the stats tell a slightly different story:

California, with 1,185 bookstores, has more outlets than any other state in the country - but that's only one store for each of California's 32,102 residents.

Texas has 1,004 bookstores, the second highest total, but that is only one for each of her 25,955 people.

Montana, Wyoming, and Vermont have only 137 bookstores between them, but they are the top three (in that order) states when measured by bookstores per capita, averaging about one store per 16,000 people.

The PW article is filled with detail and it includes a nice table that can be drilled down one level to provide some interesting insights, so please do click over to the original article.