Photo: Ken Lund · CC BY-SA 2.0Safford’s library logs 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Safford City-Graham County Library serves 40,107 people in and around Safford. Last year it lent 131K print books and media and logged 44K visits.
What’s behind Safford’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Safford is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns, #18 of 68 in Arizona. Safford is graded on two of the three inputs. Safford’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
65 community nonprofits are registered in Safford
6.4 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 (16 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.5%
6.5% of Safford’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 Safford’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Safford City-Graham County Library serves 40,107 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 74 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Safford City-Graham County Library system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
131K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Safford’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 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
Safford City-Graham County Library, 808 S 7th Ave, Safford.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Safford City-Graham County Library branch.
New in Safford? 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 $3.51 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Safford cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $696K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $696K 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 10,117 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Safford | Safford City-Graham County Library | — | 34 | B |
| Thatcher | None of its own | — | — | — too few inputs |
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.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Safford City-Graham County Library serves 40,107 people in and around Safford, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Safford.
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 Safford
Does Safford have a public library?
Yes. Safford City-Graham County Library, 808 S 7th Ave, serves 40,107 people in and around Safford (the survey’s count) and is open about 34 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Safford City-Graham County 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 Safford’s library?
It logged 1.1 visits and lent 3.3 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Safford’s civic life grade?
B Safford is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns on civic life, #18 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 Safford.
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.