Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Sacramento’s library runs 3 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Sacramento Public Library serves 1,490,915 people in and around Sacramento from 12 locations. Last year it lent 8.7M books, movies and e-books and logged 2M visits.
The short version on Sacramento’s library
Few programs for a library this size
Sacramento Public Library offered 4,436 programs last year, 3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 9. Kids & programs ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Sacramento City Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1992. Today’s library there has 160,000 square feet. The buildings ↓
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 51% of loans, more per resident than at 78% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 49%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
12 branches in Sacramento
Sacramento has 12 branches of the Sacramento Public Library, which serves 1,490,915 people in and around Sacramento. One card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
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; Sacramento Public Library serves 1,490,915 people in and around Sacramento, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Sacramento’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Sacramento is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns, #177 of 448 in California. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #131. Sacramento is graded on two of the three inputs. Sacramento’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($65K–$109K) 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 →
2,388 community nonprofits are registered in Sacramento
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 (540 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 170 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.8%
5.8% of Sacramento’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 Sacramento’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1992
Sacramento Central Library, 828 I Street, Sacramento.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Sacramento Public Library branch.
New in Sacramento? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Sacramento City Library
Sacramento City Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jul 30, 1992. It is significant for its architecture and social history at the local level. Its architecture is described as Italian Renaissance. It was listed as part of California Carnegie Libraries MPS.
The Sacramento City Library, also known as Central Branch, is part of the Sacramento Public Library system, and faces I Street in Sacramento, California near Sacramento City Hall.
More about the building →Other Sacramento Public Library branches in Sacramento
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Sacramento Public Library serves 1,490,915 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 161 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Sacramento Public Library system. The library’s own count.
51% of borrowing is digital
8.7M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
4,424,815 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 55 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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.23 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sacramento cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $57M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $127M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $57M 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 858,125 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sacramento | Sacramento Central Library fine-free | — | 39 | C+ |
| Arden-Arcade | Arcade Library fine-free | — | 39 | — unincorporated |
| West Sacramento | A. F. Turner Community Library fine-free | — | 43 | D |
| Florin | Southgate Library fine-free | — | 39 | — unincorporated |
| Lemon Hill | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| McClellan Park | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| North Highlands | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Fruitridge Pocket | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Parkway | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Freeport | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Rosemont | 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. Sacramento Public Library serves 1,490,915 people in and around Sacramento, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Sacramento.
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 Sacramento
Does Sacramento have a public library?
Yes. Sacramento Public Library, 828 I Street, serves 1,490,915 people in and around Sacramento (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sacramento 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 Sacramento’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 5.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Sacramento’s civic life grade?
C+ Sacramento is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life, #177 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 Sacramento.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.