Photo: Oleg Alexandrov · CC BY-SA 4.0Napa’s library lends 5.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Napa County Library serves 129,715 people in and around Napa. Last year it lent 666K print books and media and logged 315K visits.
What stands out about Napa Main Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Napa’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Napa is ahead of 42% of U.S. towns, #169 of 448 in California. Napa is graded on two of the three inputs. Napa’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($79K–$132K) 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 →
416 community nonprofits are registered in Napa
5.3 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 (58 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 12 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.2%
5.2% of Napa’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 Napa’s residents live; 2022.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Napa cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 42,346 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Napa County Library serves 129,715 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 67 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Napa County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
666K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 12 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
Napa Main Library, 580 Coombs St., Napa.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Napa County Library branch.
New in Napa? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Napa | Napa Main Library fine-free | — | 62 | C+ |
| American Canyon | American Canyon fine-free | — | 46 | 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.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Napa County Library serves 129,715 people in and around Napa, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Napa.
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 Napa
Does Napa have a public library?
Yes. Napa County Library, 580 Coombs St., serves 129,715 people in and around Napa (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Napa County 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 Napa’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 5.1 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Napa’s civic life grade?
C+ Napa is ahead of 42% of U.S. towns on civic life, #169 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 Napa.
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.