Photo: Shinku Hisaki at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Irwindale’s library lends 17 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Irwindale Public Library serves Irwindale’s 1,499 residents. Last year it lent 29K books, movies and e-books and logged 18K visits.
The short version on Irwindale’s library
More library cards than residents
8,545 cards for 1,499 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 71% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 98% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 57 items per child in Irwindale last year. Kids & programs ↓
Irwindale uses its library more than almost any town its size
Irwindale Public Library logs 12 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, and lends 17 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 93% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Irwindale out-borrows every town next door
At 19 loans per resident, Irwindale leads the four towns here. The closest is Arcadia, at 18. Libraries next door ↓
Irwindale invests in its library
Irwindale Public Library spends $403 per resident a year, about seven times the typical $54 for a library its size. All of it comes from local taxes. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Irwindale’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Irwindale is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns. Library visits hold the grade up; Irwindale’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($86K–$143K) 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 →
Irwindale has few registered community nonprofits
0.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
2.8%
2.8% of Irwindale’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 Irwindale’s residents live; 2022.
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 Irwindale last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Irwindale Public Library serves 1,499 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
29K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 23K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
3,007 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Irwindale Public Library, 5050 N. Irwindale Ave., Irwindale.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Irwindale? 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 Irwindale cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $604K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $416K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $604K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 8,545 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Irwindale borrows the most per resident of the 4 towns here. 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 |
| Monrovia | Monrovia Public Library | 5.7 | 45 | C |
| Azusa | Azusa City Library fine-free | 0.3 | 42 | D− |
| Baldwin Park | Baldwin Park Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| Duarte | Duarte Library fine-free | — | 40 | C− |
| West Covina | West Covina Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| El Monte | Norwood Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| South Monrovia Island | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Vincent | 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 Irwindale
Does Irwindale have a public library?
Yes. Irwindale Public Library, 5050 N. Irwindale Ave., serves Irwindale’s 1,499 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Irwindale Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Irwindale’s library?
It logged 12.1 visits and lent 19.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Irwindale’s civic life grade?
C− Irwindale is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Irwindale.
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.