James C. Rives House · Photo: Floatjon · CC BY-SA 3.0Downey’s library runs 4.9 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Downey City Library serves Downey’s 111,493 residents. Last year it lent 180K print books and media and logged 221K visits.
What Downey’s library is like
Nearly everyone in Downey has a card
105,674 cards for 111,493 people, or 95%. At the typical library serving 100,000+ people, it’s 41%. How it compares ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Downey City Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Seven of the eight 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 61% 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 ↓
Runs on less money than most
Downey City Library spends $15 per resident, less than 90% of similar-size libraries (typical: $36). 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 Downey’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Downey is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns, #346 of 448 in California. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #332. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Downey City Library spends $15 per resident, against a typical $36 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($68K–$113K) 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 →
214 community nonprofits are registered in Downey
1.9 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 (108 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 26 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.4%
3.4% of Downey’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 Downey’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Downey City Library serves 111,493 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 67 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
180K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 88K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.1 times last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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 Downey last year.
Find it
Downey City Library, 11121 Brookshire Ave., Downey.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Downey? 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 $1.59 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Downey cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $1.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.7M 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 105,674 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Downey ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. 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 |
| Commerce | City of Commerce Rosewood Library | 3.5 | 43 | C |
| Downey | Downey City Library | 1.6 | 54 | D |
| South Gate | Leland R. Weaver Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| Bellflower | Clifton M. Brakensiek Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| Norwalk | Norwalk Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| Bell Gardens | Bell Gardens Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| Paramount | Paramount Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| Pico Rivera | Pico Rivera 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.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Downey
Does Downey have a public library?
Yes. Downey City Library, 11121 Brookshire Ave., serves Downey’s 111,493 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Downey City 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 Downey’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 1.6 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Downey’s civic life grade?
D Downey is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns on civic life, #346 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 Downey.
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.