Foley Downtown Historic District (Boundary Increase) · Photo: Chris Pruitt · CC BY-SA 3.0Foley’s library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Foley Public Library serves Foley’s 23,577 residents. Last year it lent 320K books, movies and e-books and logged 127K visits.
What Foley’s library is like
Foley is a town of borrowers
Foley Public Library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 93% of similar-size libraries. Each item on the shelves went out about 3.7 times last year. What people borrow ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Foley Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Two of the three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Top 10% in Alabama for kids’ borrowing
Foley ranks #7 of 70 Alabama towns with a library of their own for children’s items borrowed per child. How it compares ↓
79% of Foley carry a library card
18,682 cards for 23,577 people, or 79%. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
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.
What’s behind Foley’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Foley is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns, #36 of 156 in Alabama. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($50K–$83K) 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 →
78 community nonprofits are registered in Foley
3.2 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 (26 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.
5.2%
5.2% of Foley’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 Foley’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
320K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 75K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.7 times last year, on average.
44,650 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Foley Public Library serves 23,577 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 110 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 5 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Foley last year.
Find it
Foley Public Library, 319 East Laurel Avenue, Foley.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Foley? 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 $4.05 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Foley cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 18,682 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Foley ranks 3rd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange Beach | Orange Beach Public Library fine-free | 18.8 | 50 | A− |
| Summerdale | Summerdale - Marjorie Younce Snook Public Library fine-free | 17.9 | 46 | C+ |
| Foley | Foley Public Library | 13.6 | 56 | C+ |
| Gulf Shores | Gulf Shores - Thomas B. Norton Public Library | 4.2 | 40 | C |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Foley
Does Foley have a public library?
Yes. Foley Public Library, 319 East Laurel Avenue, serves Foley’s 23,577 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 56 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Foley 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 Foley’s library?
It logged 5.4 visits and lent 13.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Foley’s civic life grade?
C+ Foley is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life, #36 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 Foley.
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.