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Casa Grande-Casa Grande Union High School-1920-2Photo: Tony the Marine · CC BY-SA 3.0
Casa Grande Public Library

Casa Grande’s library logs 3.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size

Casa Grande Public Library serves Casa Grande’s 65,883 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 365K books, movies and e-books and logged 205K visits.

449 N Drylake St., Casa Grande 85122 · about 56 hours a week
C−Civic lifeAhead of 20% of U.S. towns · #44 of 68 in Arizona. Library visits, nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
365K
5.5 per resident
Visits a year
205K
3.1 per resident · Above typical (2.6)
Programs & events
981
about 19 a week · 37K attended
Cardholders
57%
37,350 cards
Open
56 hrs
a week

What stands out about Casa Grande’s library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Casa Grande’s civic life grade

On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Casa Grande is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns, #44 of 68 in Arizona. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.

C−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Casa Grande’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 20%
FewerMore
Arizona towns we grade (68)Ahead of 36%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $52K–$87K (9,029)Ahead of 19%

Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($52K–$87K) 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.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. The volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

162 community nonprofits are registered in Casa Grande

2.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture160.26 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation290.48 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans230.38 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services360.59 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education260.43 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health90.15 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals110.18 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other120.19 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (58 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.

Volunteering

5.2%

5.2% of Casa Grande’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.0% in the typical Arizona 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 Casa Grande’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 3.1 visits · typical 2.6Higher than 60%
Borrowing per resident 3.8 print items · typical 3.7Higher than 51%
Digital borrowing 1.7 e-items · typical 1.2Higher than 65%
Kids’ borrowing 1.4 kids’ items · typical 1.7Lower than 57%
Program attendance 0.6 attendees · typical 0.3Higher than 77%
Programs offered 14.9 per 1,000 residents · typical 14Higher than 52%
Cardholders 57% of residents · typical 39%Higher than 77%
Spending $27 per resident · typical $40Lower than 68%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Ranked in AZ#26Most-used librariesof 40 towns
#24Most library borrowingof 40 towns
#27Best libraries for kidsof 40 towns
Size group

Casa Grande Public Library serves 65,883 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 60 items go out

Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.

205K
visits
3.1 per resident
365K
loans, print + digital
5.5 per resident
981
programs & events
37K attended
37K
library cards
57% of people served
Every open hour60items borrowed
Every week708people at a program
Every day340Wi-Fi sessions
20 staff (full-time equivalent)56 public computers77K books & media on the shelves
What people borrow

Mostly books and media off the shelf

365K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

365Kloans
Books & media (adults) 44%Kids’ books & media 25%E-books, audio & streaming 31%
How hard the shelves work
3.3×

Each of the 77K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.3 times last year, on average.

From your couch

111,973 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 4 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.

Schools in Casa Grande →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5131
Ages 6–1172
Teens369
Adults207
All ages202
Little ones
2.5

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

Kids’ books
7

children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Casa Grande last year.

37K
people at programs
981
programs
The buildings

2 places to borrow in Casa Grande

Casa Grande Public Library, 449 N Drylake St., Casa Grande.

56
hours open a week
16,000
square feet
77K
books & media
With a card

No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.

New in Casa Grande? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

Other libraries in Casa Grande

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.48 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Casa Grande cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$27 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.8M.

Local taxes 92%State 0%Federal 0%Gifts & other 7%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.8M budget.

Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.

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 37,350 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Casa Grande ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
EloyEloy Santa Cruz Library8.843D−
Casa GrandeCasa Grande Public Library fine-free5.556C−
MaricopaMaricopa Library & Cultural Center3.955C

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).

How to read these numbers

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 Casa Grande

Does Casa Grande have a public library?

Yes. Casa Grande Public Library, 449 N Drylake St., serves Casa Grande’s 65,883 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 56 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Casa Grande Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?

Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).

How busy is Casa Grande’s library?

It logged 3.1 visits and lent 5.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.

What is Casa Grande’s civic life grade?

C− Casa Grande is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns on civic life, #44 of 68 in Arizona. 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 Casa Grande.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.