Photo: Jon Zich, [email protected] · CC BY-SA 3.0Orange’s library runs 3.5 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Orange Public Library serves Orange’s 138,621 residents from 3 locations. Last year it lent 655K books, movies and e-books and logged 311K visits.
What Orange’s library is like
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 63% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 61% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Three places to borrow in Orange
Orange Public Library runs three locations, and one card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
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 Orange’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Orange is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns, #256 of 448 in California. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #249. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Orange’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($88K–$146K) 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 →
419 community nonprofits are registered in Orange
3.0 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 (164 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 44 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.7%
4.7% of Orange’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 Orange’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Orange Public Library serves 138,621 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 94 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
655K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 161K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.9 times last year, on average.
190,986 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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 Orange last year.
3 places to borrow in Orange
Orange Public Library & History Center, 407 E Chapman Ave, Orange.
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 Orange? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Orange
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.61 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Orange cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $6.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6.2M 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 54,088 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Orange borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange | Orange Public Library & History Center fine-free | 4.7 | 51 | C− |
| Anaheim | Anaheim Public Library - Central | 3.1 | 43 | D− |
| Santa Ana | Santa Ana Public Library fine-free | 0.7 | 54 | D− |
| Garden Grove | Garden Grove Main Library fine-free | — | 60 | D− |
| Tustin | Tustin Branch Library fine-free | — | 60 | C− |
| North Tustin | 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 Orange
Does Orange have a public library?
Yes. Orange Public Library, 407 E Chapman Ave, serves Orange’s 138,621 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Orange 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 Orange’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 4.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Orange’s civic life grade?
C− Orange is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns on civic life, #256 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 Orange.
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.