Photo: The original uploader was AllyUnion at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0Cerritos’ library logs 8.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Cerritos Public Library serves Cerritos’s 47,806 residents. Last year it lent 219K books, movies and e-books and logged 396K visits.
Cerritos’s library, in brief
People come to Cerritos Public Library a lot
Cerritos Public Library logs 8.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 97% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 4.3 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Programs are almost all for children
80% of the 521 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.8 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Cerritos Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All six libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Cerritos invests in its library
Cerritos Public Library spends $133 per resident a year, about three times the typical $40 for a library its size. All of it comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 62% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 69% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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 Cerritos’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Cerritos is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #125 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 →
228 community nonprofits are registered in Cerritos
4.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (91 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 38 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.2%
4.2% of Cerritos’ 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 Cerritos’ residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 84 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
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.
Cerritos Public Library serves 47,806 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
219K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 241K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.9 time last year, on average.
13,755 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 8 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 Cerritos last year.
Find it
Cerritos Library, 18025 Bloomfield Ave., Cerritos.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Cerritos? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cerritos cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $6.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6.4M 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 19,490 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Fe Springs | Santa Fe Springs City Library fine-free | 7.6 | 53 | C |
| Cerritos | Cerritos Library | 4.6 | 50 | B |
| Artesia | Artesia Library fine-free | — | 40 | D |
| Lakewood | Angelo M. Iacoboni Library fine-free | — | 40 | D |
| Norwalk | Norwalk Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| La Palma | La Palma Branch Library fine-free | — | 44 | D |
| Bellflower | Clifton M. Brakensiek Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
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 Cerritos
Does Cerritos have a public library?
Yes. Cerritos Public Library, 18025 Bloomfield Ave., serves Cerritos’ 47,806 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cerritos 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 Cerritos’ library?
It logged 8.3 visits and lent 4.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Cerritos’ civic life grade?
B Cerritos is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on civic life, #125 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 Cerritos.
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.