Photo: Chris Pruitt · CC BY-SA 3.0Pell City’s library lends 2.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Pell City Public Library serves Pell City’s 22,926 residents. Last year it lent 76K books, movies and e-books and logged 62K visits.
What stands out about Pell City’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Pell City’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Pell City is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns, #106 of 156 in Alabama. Pell City is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Pell City’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Pell City Public Library spends $23 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($51K–$86K) 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 →
36 community nonprofits are registered in Pell City
2.6 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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.5%
5.5% of Pell City’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 Pell City’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.
Pell City Public Library serves 22,926 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 28 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
76K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 49K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.2 time last year, on average.
19,343 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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 Pell City last year.
Find it
Pell City Public Library, 1000 Bruce Etheredge Pkwy Ste 100, Pell City.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Pell City? 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 $2.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pell City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $531K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $531K 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 16,035 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pell City | Pell City Public Library | 3.3 | 52 | D |
| Riverside | None of its own | — | — | D |
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 Pell City
Does Pell City have a public library?
Yes. Pell City Public Library, 1000 Bruce Etheredge Pkwy Ste 100, serves Pell City’s 22,926 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pell City 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 Pell City’s library?
It logged 2.7 visits and lent 3.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Pell City’s civic life grade?
D Pell City is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns on civic life, #106 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 Pell City.
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.