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Pine Valley SignPhoto: Rsduhamel at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Pine Valley Library · part of San Diego County Library

Pine Valley’s library is a branch of San Diego County Library, which lends more per resident than 72% of systems its size

Pine Valley’s library is the Pine Valley Library, a branch of San Diego County Library, which serves 1,111,527 people and lent 11M items last year.

28804 Old Highway 80, Pine Valley 91962 · about 39 hours a week
–Civic lifeNot graded: unincorporated places have too few inputs
Borrowed a year
11M
10.2 per resident
Visits a year
2.8M
2.5 per resident · Above typical (2.1)
Programs & events
14,374
about 276 a week · 393K attended
Cardholders
46%
510,406 cards
Open
39 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Pine Valley Library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Pine Valley’s civic life grade

Pine Valley 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 is a branch of San Diego County Library, so there is no town figure for visits.

–
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Pine Valley’s overall grade.

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 →

Places to belong

Volunteering in Pine Valley

Pine Valley is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.

Volunteering

11.9%

11.9% of Pine Valley’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 Pine Valley’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · What people borrow

49% of borrowing is digital

11M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

11Mloans
Books & media (adults) 22%Kids’ books & media 29%E-books, audio & streaming 49%
From your couch

5,522,744 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 2.5 visits · typical 2.1Higher than 64%
Borrowing per resident 5.3 print items · typical 3.2Higher than 72%
Digital borrowing 5 e-items · typical 1.4Top 10%
Kids’ borrowing 3 kids’ items · typical 1.6Higher than 78%
Program attendance 0.4 attendees · typical 0.2Higher than 77%
Programs offered 12.9 per 1,000 residents · typical 9Higher than 68%
Cardholders 46% of residents · typical 41%Higher than 61%
Spending $62 per resident · typical $36Higher than 79%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

San Diego County Library serves 1,111,527 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 157 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole San Diego County Library system. The library’s own count.

2.8M
visits
2.5 per resident
11M
loans, print + digital
10.2 per resident
14K
programs & events
393K attended
510K
library cards
46% of people served
Every open hour157items borrowed
Every week7,553people at a program
Every day1,701Wi-Fi sessions
325 staff (full-time equivalent)609 public computers
Kids & programs

About 110 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Pine Valley →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–52,482
Ages 6–113,221
Teens957
Adults6,277
All ages1,437
Little ones
47.7

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

3.3M
kids’ books & media borrowed
393K
people at programs
14,374
programs
The building

Find it

Pine Valley Library, 28804 Old Highway 80, Pine Valley.

39
hours open a week
2,526
square feet
With a card

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 San Diego County Library branch.

New in Pine Valley? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.50 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pine Valley cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
1
E-books & audio$15 each
1
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$528
a year at retail prices · $44 a month

Who pays for it
$62 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $69M.

Local taxes 96%State 0%Federal 2%Gifts & other 1%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $171M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $69M 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 510,406 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Pine Valley Library is one branch of San Diego County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 1,111,527 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 Pine Valley

Does Pine Valley have a public library?

Yes: Pine Valley Library, 28804 Old Highway 80, is a branch of San Diego County Library, which serves 1,111,527 people. The branch is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is San Diego County 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 Pine Valley’s library?

It logged 2.5 visits and lent 10.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.

What is Pine Valley’s civic life grade?

Pine Valley 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 is a branch of San Diego County Library, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.

Book talk

Reading, story times and the library in Pine Valley.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.