Photo: Armona · CC BY-SA 3.0Avenal’s library is a branch of Kings County Library, which lends less per resident than 88% of systems its size
Avenal’s library is the Avenal Library, a branch of Kings County Library, which serves 152,627 people and lent 216K items last year.
The short version on Avenal’s library
The Kings County Library system is used less than most libraries its size
The Kings County Library system records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries serving 100,000+ people. Borrowing is 1.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2. It also spends less than most: $17 per resident, against a typical $36. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
The Kings County Library system offered 375 programs last year, 2.5 per 1,000 residents against a typical 9. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 12% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 41% for its size. How it compares ↓
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; Avenal’s library is a branch of Kings County Library, so they cover the whole system (152,627 people), not just the Avenal branch.
What’s behind Avenal’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Avenal has fewer per resident than most U.S. towns. Avenal is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the U.S. middle.
Kings County Library spends $17 per resident, against a typical $36 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($41K–$68K) 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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Avenal
0.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
3.6%
3.6% of Avenal’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 Avenal’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Kings County Library serves 152,627 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Kings County Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
216K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
25,300 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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
Avenal Library, 501 E. Kings St., Avenal.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Kings County Library branch.
New in Avenal? 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 $1.37 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Avenal cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $2.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.5M 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 18,241 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Avenal Library is one branch of Kings County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 152,627 people it serves.
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 Avenal
Does Avenal have a public library?
Yes: Avenal Library, 501 E. Kings St., is a branch of Kings County Library, which serves 152,627 people. The branch is open about 34 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Kings 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 Avenal’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 1.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Avenal’s civic life grade?
D− Avenal has fewer community nonprofits per resident, and fewer younger adults in volunteering groups, than most U.S. towns. 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 Avenal.
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.