Photo: ASDFGH · CC BY-SA 4.0Covina’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Covina Public Library serves Covina’s 50,485 residents. Last year it lent 65K books, movies and e-books and logged 67K visits.
Covina’s library, in brief
Covina Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Covina Public Library records 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 1.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $20 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Covina Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 72% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 73% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. What people borrow ↓
Programs lean toward adults
58% of the 362 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 74 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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 Covina’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Covina is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns, #249 of 448 in California. Covina’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Covina Public Library spends $20 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($74K–$123K) 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 →
226 community nonprofits are registered in Covina
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 (86 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 18 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.5%
3.5% of Covina’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 Covina’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Covina Public Library serves 50,485 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 48 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
65K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 97K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
5,955 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 1 kids’ program 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 Covina last year.
Find it
Covina Public Library, 234 N. Second Ave., Covina.
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 Covina cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $933K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 32,701 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glendora | Glendora Library & Cultural Center fine-free | 3.5 | 49 | C |
| Covina | Covina Public Library | 1.3 | 27 | C− |
| Charter Oak | Charter Oak Library fine-free | — | 56 | — unincorporated |
| West Covina | West Covina Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| San Dimas | San Dimas Library fine-free | — | 40 | C− |
| Vincent | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Citrus | 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 Covina
Does Covina have a public library?
Yes. Covina Public Library, 234 N. Second Ave., serves Covina’s 50,485 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 27 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Covina 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 Covina’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 1.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Covina’s civic life grade?
C− Covina is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns on civic life, #249 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 Covina.
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.