Photo: Sanfranman59 · CC BY-SA 3.0Palo Alto’s library logs 9.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Palo Alto City Library serves Palo Alto’s 67,973 residents from 5 locations. Last year it lent 1.4M books, movies and e-books and logged 666K visits.
What Palo Alto’s library is like
Palo Alto uses its library more than almost any town its size
Palo Alto City Library logs 9.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, and lends 16 print items per resident against a typical 3.7. On both counts it beats 97% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 65% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 99% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 48 items per child in Palo Alto last year. Kids & programs ↓
Top 10% in California for borrowing
Palo Alto ranks #6 of 117 California towns with a library of their own for items borrowed per resident. Print borrowing alone runs 16 items per resident, more than at 97% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.9 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. It’s 19% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Palo Alto invests in its library
Palo Alto City Library spends $165 per resident a year, about four times the typical $40 for a library its size. All of it comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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 Palo Alto’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Palo Alto is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns, #43 of 448 in California. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
504 community nonprofits are registered in Palo Alto
7.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (68 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 25 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.3%
7.3% of Palo Alto’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 Palo Alto’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 152 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Palo Alto City Library serves 67,973 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1.4M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 286K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.8 times last year, on average.
263,369 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 8 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 Palo Alto last year.
5 places to borrow in Palo Alto
Mitchell Park Branch, 3700 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto.
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 Palo Alto? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Palo Alto
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.20 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Palo Alto cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $11M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $25M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $11M 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 56,461 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Palo Alto ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Menlo Park | Menlo Park Public Library fine-free | 20.7 | 54 | B+ |
| Palo Alto | Mitchell Park Branch fine-free | 19.9 | 47 | A |
| Mountain View | Mountain View Public Library fine-free | 16.0 | 62 | C+ |
| Los Altos | Los Altos Library fine-free | — | 68 | B+ |
| East Palo Alto | East Palo Alto Library fine-free | — | 57 | C |
| Portola Valley | Portola Valley Library fine-free | — | 57 | A− |
| Los Altos Hills | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Stanford | 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 Palo Alto
Does Palo Alto have a public library?
Yes. Palo Alto City Library, 3700 Middlefield Rd., serves Palo Alto’s 67,973 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Palo Alto City 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 Palo Alto’s library?
It logged 9.8 visits and lent 19.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Palo Alto’s civic life grade?
A Palo Alto is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns on civic life, #43 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 Palo Alto.
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.