Photo: Rivers Langley; SaveRivers · CC BY-SA 3.0Chelsea’s library lends 7.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Chelsea Public Library serves 16,193 people in and around Chelsea. Last year it lent 169K books, movies and e-books and logged 32K visits.
What Chelsea’s library is like
People borrow more than they stay
Borrowing per resident is higher than at 81% of similar-size libraries, but visits are lower than at 70%. People come in, pick up their books and go. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 63% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 88% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.9 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 87% of similar-size libraries. It’s 28% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; Chelsea Public Library serves 16,193 people in and around Chelsea, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Chelsea’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Chelsea is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns, #97 of 156 in Alabama. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Chelsea’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($87K–$144K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
44 community nonprofits are registered in Chelsea
2.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (16 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.7%
5.7% of Chelsea’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.8% in the typical Alabama town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Chelsea’s residents live; 2022.
About 2 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Chelsea Public Library serves 16,193 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 59 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Chelsea Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
169K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
47,064 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Chelsea Public Library, 16623 Highway 80, Chelsea.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Chelsea Public Library branch.
New in Chelsea? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.68 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Chelsea cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $740K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $740K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 6,564 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbiana | Columbiana Public Library | 8.8 | 48 | C |
| Pelham | Pelham Public Library | 8.3 | 56 | B |
| Chelsea | Chelsea Public Library | — | 55 | D |
| Westover | Westover Public Library | — | 10 | D |
| Highland Lakes | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Chelsea Public Library serves 16,193 people in and around Chelsea, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Chelsea.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Chelsea
Does Chelsea have a public library?
Yes. Chelsea Public Library, 16623 Highway 80, serves 16,193 people in and around Chelsea (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Chelsea Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Chelsea’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 10.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Chelsea’s civic life grade?
D Chelsea is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns on civic life, #97 of 156 in Alabama. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Chelsea.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.