Photo: Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0Palm Desert’s library is a branch of Riverside County Library System, which lends less per resident than 75% of systems its size
Palm Desert’s library is the Palm Desert Branch Library, a branch of Riverside County Library System, which serves 1,381,045 people and lent 3M items last year.
What Palm Desert’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 100,000+ people, the Riverside County Library System sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on four. How it compares ↓
California pays a big share
32% of the budget comes from the state, and 67% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 63% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 64% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. 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; Palm Desert’s library is a branch of Riverside County Library System, so they cover the whole system (1,381,045 people), not just the Palm Desert branch.
What’s behind Palm Desert’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Palm Desert is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns, #198 of 448 in California. Palm Desert is graded on two of the three inputs. Palm Desert’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 ($58K–$97K) 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 →
249 community nonprofits are registered in Palm Desert
4.8 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 (62 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 16 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.4%
4.4% of Palm Desert’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 Palm Desert’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.
Riverside County Library System serves 1,381,045 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
A year at Riverside County Library System
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Riverside County Library System system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
3M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
343,932 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 88 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
Palm Desert Branch Library, 73-300 Fred Waring Dr., Palm Desert.
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 Riverside County Library System branch.
New in Palm Desert? 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 $1.16 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Palm Desert cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $47M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4M 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 387,781 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rancho Mirage | Rancho Mirage Public Library fine-free | 18.7 | 54 | B |
| Palm Desert | Palm Desert Branch Library fine-free | — | 55 | C |
| Thousand Palms | Thousand Palms Library fine-free | — | 37 | — unincorporated |
| Indian Wells | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Bermuda Dunes | 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.
- System-wide. Palm Desert Branch Library is one branch of Riverside County Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 1,381,045 people it serves.
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 Palm Desert
Does Palm Desert have a public library?
Yes: Palm Desert Branch Library, 73-300 Fred Waring Dr., is a branch of Riverside County Library System, which serves 1,381,045 people. The branch is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Riverside County Library System 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 Palm Desert’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Palm Desert’s civic life grade?
C Palm Desert is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns on civic life, #198 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 Palm Desert.
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.