College Street Historic District · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 4.0Troy’s library runs 4.8 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Troy Public Library serves 26,578 people in and around Troy. Last year it lent 134K books, movies and e-books and logged 65K visits.
What Troy’s library is like
Programs are almost all for children
97% of the 128 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.5 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Nearly everyone the system serves has a card
25,378 cards for 26,578 people, or 95%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Troy Public Library offered 128 programs last year, 4.8 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
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; Troy Public Library serves 26,578 people in and around Troy, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Troy’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Troy is ahead of 35% of U.S. towns, #41 of 156 in Alabama. Troy is graded on two of the three inputs. Troy’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
102 community nonprofits are registered in Troy
5.8 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 (22 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.6%
3.6% of Troy’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 Troy’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Troy Public Library serves 26,578 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 60 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Troy Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
134K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
11,395 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
Troy Public Library, 500 East Walnut Street, Troy.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Troy Public Library branch.
New in Troy? 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 $3.20 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Troy cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $627K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $627K 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 25,378 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Troy Public Library serves 26,578 people in and around Troy, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Troy.
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 Troy
Does Troy have a public library?
Yes. Troy Public Library, 500 East Walnut Street, serves 26,578 people in and around Troy (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Troy 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 Troy’s library?
It logged 2.5 visits and lent 5.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Troy’s civic life grade?
C+ Troy is ahead of 35% of U.S. towns on civic life, #41 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 Troy.
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.