Los Cerritos Ranch House · Photo: Dan Cathcart, photographer · Public domainLong Beach’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Long Beach Public Library serves Long Beach’s 458,813 residents from 12 locations. Last year it lent 1.1M books, movies and e-books and logged 657K visits.
What stands out about Long Beach’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Long Beach’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Long Beach is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns, #251 of 448 in California. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #242. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Long Beach’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($66K–$109K) 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 →
1,418 community nonprofits are registered in Long Beach
3.1 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 (455 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 99 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.2%
6.2% of Long Beach’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 Long Beach’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Long Beach Public Library serves 458,813 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 51 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
1.1M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 688K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
336,699 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 28 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 Long Beach last year.
13 places to borrow in Long Beach
Billie Jean King Main Library, 200 W. Broadway, Long Beach.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Long Beach? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Long Beach
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Long Beach cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $19M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $18M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $19M 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 312,192 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Central Library fine-free | 6.7 | 57 | D |
| Long Beach | Billie Jean King Main Library fine-free | 2.4 | 38 | C− |
| Lakewood | Angelo M. Iacoboni Library fine-free | — | 40 | D |
| Hawaiian Gardens | Hawaiian Gardens Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| Carson | Carson Library fine-free | — | 40 | D |
| Compton | Compton Library fine-free | — | 40 | D |
| Seal Beach | Mary Wilson Branch Library fine-free | — | 44 | B− |
| Paramount | Paramount Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| Los Alamitos | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
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 Long Beach
Does Long Beach have a public library?
Yes. Long Beach Public Library, 200 W. Broadway, serves Long Beach’s 458,813 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Long Beach 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 Long Beach’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 2.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Long Beach’s civic life grade?
C− Long Beach is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns on civic life, #251 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 Long 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.