Photo: Esun · CC BY 2.5Arcadia’s library logs 6.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Arcadia Public Library serves Arcadia’s 55,783 residents. Last year it lent 992K books, movies and e-books and logged 341K visits.
What Arcadia’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 68% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 28 items per child in Arcadia last year. Kids & programs ↓
Most of Arcadia’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 53% of loans, more per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 47%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
Arcadia uses its library more than almost any town its size
Arcadia Public Library logs 6.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, and lends 8.4 print items per resident against a typical 3.7. On both counts it beats 85% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Top 10% in California for borrowing
Arcadia ranks #10 of 117 California towns with a library of their own for items borrowed per resident. Print borrowing alone runs 8.4 items per resident, more than at 85% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Arcadia Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Five of the six 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 Arcadia’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Arcadia is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns, #113 of 448 in California. Library visits hold 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 →
247 community nonprofits are registered in Arcadia
4.5 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 (100 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 46 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.1%
6.1% of Arcadia’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.9% in the typical California 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 Arcadia’s residents live; 2022.
53% of borrowing is digital
992K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 175K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.7 times last year, on average.
522,239 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 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Arcadia Public Library serves 55,783 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 318 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 4 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 Arcadia last year.
Find it
Arcadia Public Library, 20 W. Duarte Road, Arcadia.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Arcadia? 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 $2.79 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Arcadia cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $15M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.2M 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 25,222 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Arcadia ranks 2nd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irwindale | Irwindale Public Library fine-free | 19.5 | 49 | C− |
| Arcadia | Arcadia Public Library | 17.8 | 60 | B |
| Sierra Madre | Sierra Madre Public Library fine-free | 8.5 | 41 | A− |
| Monrovia | Monrovia Public Library | 5.7 | 45 | C |
| Mayflower Village | Live Oak Library fine-free | — | 60 | — unincorporated |
| Temple City | Temple City Library fine-free | — | 40 | D |
| El Monte | Norwood Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| East San Gabriel | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| North El Monte | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| East Pasadena | 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.
- 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 Arcadia
Does Arcadia have a public library?
Yes. Arcadia Public Library, 20 W. Duarte Road, serves Arcadia’s 55,783 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Arcadia Public 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 Arcadia’s library?
It logged 6.1 visits and lent 17.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Arcadia’s civic life grade?
B Arcadia is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns on civic life, #113 of 448 in California. 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 Arcadia.
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.