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Emanuella Grinberg, CNN
Published: 18 May 2012

(CNN) -- Virginia is for lovers, so the slogan goes -- but more specifically, it seems to be the state many book-lovers call home.

Amazon.com customers in Alexandria, Virginia, bought the most books, magazines and newspapers in the past year, making it the most well-read city in America on a per capita basis, according to rankings from the popular e-commerce website. Two other Virginia cities were in the top 20: Arlington ranked seventh and Richmond 20th.

Titles from the romance category were the most popular among Alexandrians, Amazon said in a statement announcing its second annual list of Most Well-Read Cities.

The second most well-read city with more than 100,000 residents was Cambridge, Massachusetts. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Amazon customers in the home of Harvard and MIT bought the most books in the business and investing category.

The list is full of university cities, like Berkeley, California, which came in third, with purchases of travel books at the top of customers' lists. Other academic hubs that made the cut are Ann Arbor, Michigan (No. 4), Boulder, Colorado (No. 5), Gainesville, Florida (No. 8) and Columbia, South Carolina (No. 15).

The rankings were determined by compiling the number of books, magazines and newspapers bought by Amazon customers in both print and Kindle format since June 1, 2011, and dividing that number by the city's population to determine the number of units sold on a per-capita basis, Amazon said. The formula explains why some of the nation's largest cities, like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, did not make the list, while cities that don't normally appear on top-20 lists did.

"It's great to see that we are truly a nation of readers, with representation on this list from every region of the country," Chris Schluep, Amazon.com's senior editor of books, said in a statement.

The complete list:

1. Alexandria, Virginia

2. Cambridge, Massachusetts

3. Berkeley, California

4. Ann Arbor, Michigan

5. Boulder, Colorado

6. Miami, Florida

7. Arlington, Virginia

8. Gainesville, Florida

9. Washington, D.C.

10. Salt Lake City, Utah

11. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

12. Knoxville, Tennessee

13. Seattle, Washington

14. Orlando, Florida

15. Columbia, South Carolina

16. Bellevue, Washington

17. Cincinnati, Ohio

18. St. Louis, Missouri

19. Atlanta, Georgia

20. Richmond, Virginia

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