Photo: Ramkumar Menon · CC BY-SA 4.0Los Gatos’ library logs 7.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Los Gatos Library serves Los Gatos’s 33,230 residents. Last year it lent 458K books, movies and e-books and logged 249K visits.
What Los Gatos’s library is like
Los Gatos uses its library more than almost any town its size
Los Gatos Library logs 7.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, and lends 11 print items per resident against a typical 3.7. On both counts it beats 91% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 63% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 96% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 29 items per child in Los Gatos last year. Kids & programs ↓
More library cards than residents
34,088 cards for 33,230 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 87% of similar-size libraries. It’s 22% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
A place to get online
Los Gatos Library logs about 1,649 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 36 public computers. That’s 18 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
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 Los Gatos’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Los Gatos is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns, #63 of 448 in California. Los Gatos’ count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
248 community nonprofits are registered in Los Gatos
7.6 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 (40 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 10 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.5%
6.5% of Los Gatos’ 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 Los Gatos’ residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 164 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Los Gatos Library serves 33,230 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
458K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 116K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.1 times last year, on average.
99,098 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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 Los Gatos last year.
Find it
Los Gatos Public Library, 100 Villa Avenue, Los Gatos.
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 Los Gatos? 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 $2.62 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Los Gatos cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.2M 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 34,088 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 Gatos | Los Gatos Public Library fine-free | 13.8 | 54 | A− |
| San Jose | Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library | 8.2 | 69 | C− |
| Saratoga | Saratoga Library fine-free | — | 59 | B+ |
| Campbell | Campbell Library fine-free | — | 58 | C+ |
| Monte Sereno | None of its own | — | — | 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.
- 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 Los Gatos
Does Los Gatos have a public library?
Yes. Los Gatos Library, 100 Villa Avenue, serves Los Gatos’ 33,230 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Los Gatos 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 Los Gatos’ library?
It logged 7.5 visits and lent 13.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Los Gatos’ civic life grade?
A− Los Gatos is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns on civic life, #63 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 Los Gatos.
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.