Hastings Adobe · Photo: Sanfranman59 · CC BY-SA 3.0Pittsburg’s library is a branch of Contra Costa County Library, which lends more per resident than 66% of systems its size
Pittsburg’s library is the Pittsburg Library, a branch of Contra Costa County Library, which serves 1,033,891 people and lent 7M items last year.
What stands out about Pittsburg Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Pittsburg’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Pittsburg is ahead of 3% of U.S. towns, #373 of 448 in California. Pittsburg is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Pittsburg’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($75K–$125K) 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 →
168 community nonprofits are registered in Pittsburg
2.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (96 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 12 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
2.5%
2.5% of Pittsburg’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 Pittsburg’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Contra Costa County Library serves 1,033,891 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 118 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Contra Costa County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
7M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,205,667 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 71 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
Pittsburg Library, 80 Power Ave., Pittsburg.
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 Contra Costa County Library branch.
New in Pittsburg? 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 $2.31 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pittsburg cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $44M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $102M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $44M 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 359,564 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.
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. Pittsburg Library is one branch of Contra Costa County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 1,033,891 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 Pittsburg
Does Pittsburg have a public library?
Yes: Pittsburg Library, 80 Power Ave., is a branch of Contra Costa County Library, which serves 1,033,891 people. The branch is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Contra Costa 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 Pittsburg’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 6.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Pittsburg’s civic life grade?
D− Pittsburg is ahead of 3% of U.S. towns on civic life, #373 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 Pittsburg.
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.