Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Snowflake

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
James M. Flake HouseJames M. Flake House · Photo: Marine 69-71 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Snowflake-Taylor Public Library

Snowflake’s library logs 5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size

Snowflake-Taylor Public Library serves Snowflake’s 11,291 residents. Last year it lent 66K books, movies and e-books and logged 57K visits.

418 S 4th W, Snowflake 85937 · about 43 hours a week
A−Civic lifeAhead of 79% of U.S. towns · #10 of 68 in Arizona. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
66K
5.9 per resident
Visits a year
57K
5 per resident · Above typical (3.1)
Programs & events
378
about 7 a week · 12K attended
Cardholders
43%
4,831 cards
Open
43 hrs
a week

What stands out about Snowflake’s library

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

Civic life grade

What’s behind Snowflake’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Snowflake is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns, #10 of 68 in Arizona. Snowflake is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Snowflake’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.

A−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Snowflake’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 79%
FewerMore
Arizona towns we grade (68)Ahead of 87%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $57K–$95K (9,239)Ahead of 78%

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 two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Snowflake is small (6,902 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; 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

43 community nonprofits are registered in Snowflake

6.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: environment & animals.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture20.31 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation81.24 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans20.31 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services91.40 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education91.40 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals101.55 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other30.47 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

7.8%

7.8% of Snowflake’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 Snowflake’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · Kids & programs

About 3 kids’ programs a week

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

Schools in Snowflake →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–572
Ages 6–11103
Teens34
Adults100
All ages69
Little ones
1.4

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

Kids’ books
14

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

12K
people at programs
378
programs
How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 5 visits · typical 3.1Higher than 78%
Borrowing per resident 5.5 print items · typical 3.9Higher than 67%
Digital borrowing 0.4 e-items · typical 1.1Lower than 81%
Kids’ borrowing 3 kids’ items · typical 1.8Higher than 73%
Program attendance 1.1 attendees · typical 0.4Higher than 89%
Programs offered 33.5 per 1,000 residents · typical 24Higher than 69%
Cardholders 43% of residents · typical 40%Higher than 56%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Snowflake-Taylor Public Library serves 11,291 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 32 items go out

Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.

57K
visits
5 per resident
66K
loans, print + digital
5.9 per resident
378
programs & events
12K attended
4,831
library cards
43% of people served
Every open hour32items borrowed
Every week232people at a program
Every day19Wi-Fi sessions
5 staff (full-time equivalent)8 public computers69K books & media on the shelves

Not reported for 2024: spending. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.

What people borrow

More than half the print loans are kids’ books

66K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

66Kloans
Books & media (adults) 43%Kids’ books & media 50%E-books, audio & streaming 7%
How hard the shelves work
0.9×

Each of the 69K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.9 time last year, on average.

From your couch

4,390 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

The building

Find it

Snowflake-Taylor Public Library, 418 S 4th W, Snowflake.

43
hours open a week
7,058
square feet
69K
books & media
With a card

No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.

New in Snowflake? The Handbook →

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

What your card is worth

What a library card is worth

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

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
1
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
$348
a year at retail prices · $29 a month

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 4,831 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
SnowflakeSnowflake-Taylor Public Library fine-free5.943A−
TaylorNone of its own——C

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.

  • Not reported for 2024: spending. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.

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 Snowflake

Does Snowflake have a public library?

Yes. Snowflake-Taylor Public Library, 418 S 4th W, serves Snowflake’s 11,291 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Snowflake-Taylor 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 Snowflake’s library?

It logged 5.0 visits and lent 5.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.

What is Snowflake’s civic life grade?

A− Snowflake is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns on civic life, #10 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 Snowflake.

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.