Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Bobby~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domainEloy’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Eloy Santa Cruz Library serves Eloy’s 18,994 residents. Last year it lent 168K books, movies and e-books and logged 24K visits.
Eloy’s library, in brief
Most of Eloy’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 96% of loans, more per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 4%. What people borrow ↓
Eloy Santa Cruz Library is used less than most libraries its size
Eloy Santa Cruz Library records 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 0.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $15 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Eloy Santa Cruz Library offered 79 programs last year, 4.2 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Eloy Santa Cruz Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Two of the three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. 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 Eloy’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Eloy is ahead of 2% of U.S. towns, #64 of 68 in Arizona. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Eloy Santa Cruz Library spends $15 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size, and its 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($42K–$70K) 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 →
20 community nonprofits are registered in Eloy
1.2 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 (18 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
3.5%
3.5% of Eloy’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 Eloy’s residents live; 2022.
96% of borrowing is digital
168K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 19K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
161,063 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Eloy Santa Cruz Library serves 18,994 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 75 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
79 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Eloy last year.
Find it
Eloy Santa Cruz Library, 1000 N Main St., Eloy.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Eloy? 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 $8.89 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Eloy cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $288K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $288K 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 3,699 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Eloy borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eloy | Eloy Santa Cruz Library | 8.8 | 43 | D− |
| Casa Grande | Casa Grande Public Library fine-free | 5.5 | 56 | C− |
| Coolidge | Coolidge Public Library | 3.0 | 43 | C− |
| Arizona City | Arizona City Community Library fine-free | — | 38 | — unincorporated |
| Picacho | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 are a typical-week estimate. Eloy Santa Cruz 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 Eloy
Does Eloy have a public library?
Yes. Eloy Santa Cruz Library, 1000 N Main St., serves Eloy’s 18,994 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Eloy Santa Cruz 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 Eloy’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 8.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Eloy’s civic life grade?
D− Eloy is ahead of 2% of U.S. towns on civic life, #64 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 Eloy.
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.