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Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for June 20, 2018

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By Scott Rasmussen

The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.

June 20, 2018: Thirty-four years ago, daily newspaper circulation in the United States peaked at 63,340,000. Last year, daily circulation was just 30,948,419.[1] That represents a 51% decline.

The decline is especially dramatic when you consider the population growth over the past 34 years. In 1984, there were 85,290,000 households in the U.S. By 2017, that number had grown to 126,244,000.[2]

So, despite a 48% increase in household growth since 1984, newspaper circulation is half what it used to be.

Today, the number of daily newspapers in circulation equals just 24% of the number of households. In 1984, circulation reached 74% of the household total. If you go back a generation earlier, there were more daily newspapers than households in 1968 (62.5 million daily papers in circulation to 60.8 million homes).

The number of newsroom employees has fallen from 74,410 in 2006 to 39,210 in 2017.

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Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology.


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Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.

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