Photo: David Wakely · CC BY-SA 2.5Pasadena’s library logs 2.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Pasadena Public Library serves Pasadena’s 139,692 residents from 10 locations. Last year it lent 687K books, movies and e-books and logged 386K visits.
What Pasadena’s library is like
More library cards than residents
218,273 cards for 139,692 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 100,000+ people, it’s 41%. How it compares ↓
Pasadena invests in its library
Pasadena Public Library spends $114 per resident a year, about three times the typical $36 for a library its size. All of it comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Ten places to borrow in Pasadena
Pasadena Public Library runs ten locations, and one card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 60% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 69% of similar-size libraries. 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.
What’s behind Pasadena’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Pasadena is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns, #122 of 448 in California. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #60. Pasadena’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
965 community nonprofits are registered in Pasadena
7.1 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 (283 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 70 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.0%
7.0% of Pasadena’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 Pasadena’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Pasadena Public Library serves 139,692 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 28 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
687K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 519K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
101,694 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 17 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 Pasadena last year.
10 places to borrow in Pasadena
Hastings Branch Library, 3325 E. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena.
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 Pasadena? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Pasadena
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pasadena cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $16M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $16M 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 218,273 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Pasadena ranks 6th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Pasadena | South Pasadena Public Library fine-free | 14.3 | 55 | A− |
| San Marino | Crowell Public Library | 11.0 | 59 | A |
| Sierra Madre | Sierra Madre Public Library fine-free | 8.5 | 41 | A− |
| Altadena | Altadena Library District fine-free | 6.7 | 48 | B− |
| Los Angeles | Central Library fine-free | 6.7 | 57 | D |
| Pasadena | Hastings Branch Library fine-free | 4.9 | 54 | B |
| Glendale | Glendale Library, Arts & Culture fine-free | 4.6 | 66 | C |
| La Cañada Flintridge | La Canada Flintridge Library fine-free | — | 40 | A− |
| San Pasqual | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| East Pasadena | 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 Pasadena
Does Pasadena have a public library?
Yes. Pasadena Public Library, 3325 E. Orange Grove Blvd., serves Pasadena’s 139,692 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pasadena 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 Pasadena’s library?
It logged 2.8 visits and lent 4.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Pasadena’s civic life grade?
B Pasadena is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns on civic life, #122 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 Pasadena.
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.