Photo: Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0Palm Springs’ library lends 5.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Palm Springs Public Library serves Palm Springs’s 43,791 residents. Last year it lent 325K books, movies and e-books and logged 140K visits.
What stands out about Palm Springs’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Palm Springs’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Palm Springs is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns, #164 of 448 in California. Palm Springs’ 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 ($55K–$91K) 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 →
247 community nonprofits are registered in Palm Springs
5.5 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 (64 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.
5.3%
5.3% of Palm Springs’ 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 Springs’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Palm Springs Public Library serves 43,791 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 134 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
325K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 110K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.4 times last year, on average.
65,314 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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 Palm Springs last year.
Find it
Palm Springs Public Library, 300 S. Sunrise Way, Palm Springs.
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 Palm Springs? 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 $1.66 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Palm Springs cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.2M 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 23,437 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 Springs | Palm Springs Public Library fine-free | 7.4 | 47 | C+ |
| Cathedral City | Cathedral City Branch Library fine-free | — | 42 | D− |
| Desert Hot Springs | Desert Hot Springs Branch Library fine-free | — | 38 | D− |
| Whitewater | 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 Palm Springs
Does Palm Springs have a public library?
Yes. Palm Springs Public Library, 300 S. Sunrise Way, serves Palm Springs’ 43,791 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Palm Springs 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 Palm Springs’ library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 7.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Palm Springs’ civic life grade?
C+ Palm Springs is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns on civic life, #164 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 Springs.
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.