Ten Oaks · Photo: Jeffery Steading · CC BY-SA 3.0Jacksonville’s library runs 11 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Jacksonville Public Library serves 14,432 people in and around Jacksonville. Last year it lent 51K books, movies and e-books and logged 35K visits.
What’s behind Jacksonville’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Jacksonville is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns, #38 of 156 in Alabama. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($39K–$65K) 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 →
52 community nonprofits are registered in Jacksonville
3.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (15 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.5%
7.5% of Jacksonville’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 Jacksonville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Jacksonville Public Library serves 14,432 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 22 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Jacksonville Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
51K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
14,481 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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.
Find it
Jacksonville Public Library, 200 Pelham Road South, Jacksonville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Jacksonville Public Library branch.
New in Jacksonville? 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 $1.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Jacksonville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $611K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $776K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $611K 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 6,862 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Jacksonville Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Jacksonville Public Library serves 14,432 people in and around Jacksonville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Jacksonville.
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 Jacksonville
Does Jacksonville have a public library?
Yes. Jacksonville Public Library, 200 Pelham Road South, serves 14,432 people in and around Jacksonville (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Jacksonville 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 Jacksonville’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Jacksonville’s civic life grade?
C+ Jacksonville is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns on civic life, #38 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 Jacksonville.
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.