Photo: King of Hearts · CC BY-SA 3.0Monterey Park’s library runs 29 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library serves Monterey Park’s 59,347 residents. Last year it lent 189K books, movies and e-books and logged 213K visits.
What Monterey Park’s library is like
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 75% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 62% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Programs lean toward adults
73% of the 1,731 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 349 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
80% of Monterey Park carry a library card
47,481 cards for 59,347 people, or 80%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 6% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 90% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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 Monterey Park’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Monterey Park is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns, #232 of 448 in California. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($61K–$102K) 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 →
138 community nonprofits are registered in Monterey Park
2.3 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 (66 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 24 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.2%
5.2% of Monterey Park’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 Monterey Park’s residents live; 2022.
About 7 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 Monterey Park last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library serves 59,347 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 109 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
189K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 114K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
11,965 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library, 318 S. Ramona Avenue, Monterey Park.
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 Monterey Park? 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 $1.13 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Monterey Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.8M 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 47,481 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alhambra | Alhambra Public Library | 3.9 | 60 | C− |
| Monterey Park | Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library fine-free | 3.2 | 33 | C− |
| East Los Angeles | East Los Angeles Library fine-free | — | 60 | — unincorporated |
| Rosemead | Rosemead Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| Montebello | Montebello Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| San Gabriel | San Gabriel Library fine-free | — | 40 | D |
| South San Gabriel | 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 Monterey Park
Does Monterey Park have a public library?
Yes. Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library, 318 S. Ramona Avenue, serves Monterey Park’s 59,347 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 33 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Monterey Park Bruggemeyer 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 Monterey Park’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 3.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Monterey Park’s civic life grade?
C− Monterey Park is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns on civic life, #232 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 Monterey Park.
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.