Photo: Rivers Langley SaveRivers · CC BY-SA 3.0Phenix City’s library logs 0.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Phenix City - Russell County Public Library serves 58,555 people in and around Phenix City. Last year it lent 45K books, movies and e-books and logged 37K visits.
What Phenix City’s library is like
Phenix City - Russell County Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Phenix City - Russell County Public Library records 0.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $10 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Phenix City - Russell County Public Library offered 146 programs last year, 2.5 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Nearly everyone the system serves has a card
54,417 cards for 58,555 people, or 93%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
Most programs are for young children
77% of the 146 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.3 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Phenix City - Russell County Public Library spends $10 per resident, less than 95% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). What your card is worth ↓
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; Phenix City - Russell County Public Library serves 58,555 people in and around Phenix City, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Phenix City’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Phenix City is ahead of 4% of U.S. towns, #145 of 156 in Alabama. Phenix City is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Phenix City - Russell County Public Library spends $10 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($38K–$63K) 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 →
64 community nonprofits are registered in Phenix City
1.7 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 (30 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.6%
4.6% of Phenix 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 Phenix City’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Phenix City - Russell County Public Library serves 58,555 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Phenix City - Russell County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
45K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
7,789 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Find it
Phenix City - Russell County Public Library, 1501 17th Avenue, Phenix City.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Phenix City - Russell County Public Library branch.
New in Phenix 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 $1.32 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Phenix City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $593K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $786K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $593K 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 54,417 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phenix City | Phenix City - Russell County Public Library | — | 46 | D− |
| Columbus | Columbus Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | C− |
| Smiths Station | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Ladonia | 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. Phenix City - Russell County Public Library serves 58,555 people in and around Phenix City, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Phenix City.
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 Phenix City
Does Phenix City have a public library?
Yes. Phenix City - Russell County Public Library, 1501 17th Avenue, serves 58,555 people in and around Phenix City (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Phenix City - Russell County 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 Phenix City’s library?
It logged 0.6 visits and lent 0.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Phenix City’s civic life grade?
D− Phenix City is ahead of 4% of U.S. towns on civic life, #145 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 Phenix 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.