Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Placerville’s library logs 2.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
El Dorado County Library serves 188,583 people in and around Placerville. Last year it lent 779K books, movies and e-books and logged 535K visits.
What stands out about El Dorado County Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Placerville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Placerville is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns, #57 of 448 in California. Placerville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
49 community nonprofits are registered in Placerville
4.5 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 (12 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
10.4%
10.4% of Placerville’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 Placerville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
El Dorado County Library serves 188,583 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 70 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole El Dorado County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
779K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
150,006 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 12 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.
2 places to borrow in Placerville
El Dorado County Library, 345 Fair Lane, Placerville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every El Dorado County Library branch.
New in Placerville? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other El Dorado County Library branches in Placerville
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.67 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Placerville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $4.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $16M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.3M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 108,650 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Placerville | El Dorado County Library | — | 35 | A− |
| Diamond Springs | 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.
- System-wide. El Dorado County Library serves 188,583 people in and around Placerville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Placerville.
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 Placerville
Does Placerville have a public library?
Yes. El Dorado County Library, 345 Fair Lane, serves 188,583 people in and around Placerville (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is El Dorado County Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Placerville’s library?
It logged 2.8 visits and lent 4.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Placerville’s civic life grade?
A− Placerville is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns on civic life, #57 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 Placerville.
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.