Kings Beach’s library is a branch of Placer County Library, which lends more per resident than 64% of systems its size
Kings Beach’s library is the Kings Beach Library, a branch of Placer County Library, which serves 198,683 people and lent 1.1M items last year.
What stands out about Kings Beach Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Kings Beach’s civic life grade
Kings Beach isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary), its library is a branch of Placer County Library, so there is no town figure for visits and the volunteering estimate doesn’t cover enough of 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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Placer County Library serves 198,683 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 91 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Placer County Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
1.1M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
264,220 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 19 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
Kings Beach Library, 301 Secline Street, Kings Beach.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Placer County Library branch.
New in Kings Beach? 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 $1.81 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Kings Beach cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $9.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $17M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $9.3M 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 91,343 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kings Beach | Kings Beach Library | — | 28 | — unincorporated |
| Tahoe Vista | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Crystal Bay | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- System-wide. Kings Beach Library is one branch of Placer County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 198,683 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 Kings Beach
Does Kings Beach have a public library?
Yes: Kings Beach Library, 301 Secline Street, is a branch of Placer County Library, which serves 198,683 people. The branch is open about 28 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Placer 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 Kings Beach’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 5.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Kings Beach’s civic life grade?
Kings Beach isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary), its library is a branch of Placer County Library, so there is no town figure for visits and the volunteering estimate doesn’t cover enough of it. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Kings Beach.
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.