Photo: Orcutteer · CC BY 4.0Orcutt’s library runs 5.6 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Santa Maria Public Library serves 158,856 people in and around Orcutt. Last year it lent 410K books, movies and e-books and logged 226K visits.
What Orcutt’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 100,000+ people, Santa Maria Public Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on seven. How it compares ↓
Santa Maria Public Library serves more than Orcutt
The library’s service area covers 158,856 people in and around Orcutt, so its per-resident numbers are measured against that wider population. How it compares ↓
A place to get online
Santa Maria Public Library logs about 3,577 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 135 public computers. That’s 8.2 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 Orcutt’s civic life grade
Orcutt isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library’s visits weren’t reported for 2024.
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 →
Volunteering in Orcutt
Orcutt is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
5.0%
5.0% of Orcutt’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 Orcutt’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Santa Maria Public Library serves 158,856 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 47 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
410K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 206K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 times last year, on average.
98,755 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 9 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.
Find it
Orcutt Library, 175 S. Broadway, Orcutt.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Orcutt? 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 $1.87 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Orcutt cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $5.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.4M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 32,640 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orcutt | Orcutt Library | 2.6 | 36 | — unincorporated |
| Santa Maria | Santa Maria Public Library | 2.6 | 56 | 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 Orcutt
Does Orcutt have a public library?
Yes. Santa Maria Public Library, 175 S. Broadway, serves 158,856 people in and around Orcutt (the survey’s count) and is open about 36 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Santa Maria Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Orcutt’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Orcutt’s civic life grade?
Orcutt isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library’s visits weren’t reported for 2024. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Orcutt.
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.