Photo: Finetooth · CC BY-SA 3.0Cottonwood’s library logs 16 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Cottonwood Public Library serves Cottonwood’s 12,658 residents. Last year it lent 250K books, movies and e-books and logged 202K visits.
Cottonwood’s library, in brief
Cottonwood has the most-used library in Arizona
Out of 40 Arizona towns with a library of their own, Cottonwood comes first for visits per resident. It’s also #2 for borrowing and #2 for kids’ borrowing. How it compares ↓
Cottonwood uses its library more than almost any town its size
Cottonwood Public Library logs 16 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, and lends 14 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 96% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Five times the programs of a typical library its size
Cottonwood Public Library ran 1,580 programs last year, about 30 a week. That’s 125 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24. People show up: 25,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 6 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 98% of similar-size libraries. It’s 30% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Cottonwood invests in its library
Cottonwood Public Library spends $118 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (95%) comes from local taxes. 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.
What’s behind Cottonwood’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Cottonwood is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns, #15 of 68 in Arizona. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Cottonwood Public Library logged 16.0 visits per resident in FY2024, #57 of the 3,790 town libraries we compare. The survey counts every visit, residents or not, and libraries don’t report how many come from out of town.
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 →
56 community nonprofits are registered in Cottonwood
4.4 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 (17 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.
5.3%
5.3% of Cottonwood’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 Cottonwood’s residents live; 2022.
About 9 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 Cottonwood last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Cottonwood Public Library serves 12,658 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 96 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
250K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 87K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2 times last year, on average.
75,322 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Cottonwood Public Library, 100 S 6th St., Cottonwood.
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 Cottonwood? 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 $2.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cottonwood cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.5M 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 7,077 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cottonwood | Cottonwood Public Library fine-free | 19.7 | 50 | B |
| Camp Verde | Camp Verde Community Library fine-free | 7.5 | 60 | B |
| Clarkdale | Clark Memorial Library fine-free | — | 22 | C+ |
| Verde Village | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Cornville | 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.
- Visits count everyone. Cottonwood’s 202,234 visits include people from nearby towns and summer visitors; the survey has no resident share.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Cottonwood Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Cottonwood
Does Cottonwood have a public library?
Yes. Cottonwood Public Library, 100 S 6th St., serves Cottonwood’s 12,658 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood’s library?
It logged 16.0 visits and lent 19.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Cottonwood’s civic life grade?
B Cottonwood is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns on civic life, #15 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 Cottonwood.
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.