Photo: Pierre André · CC BY-SA 4.0Santa Barbara’s library lends 5.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Santa Barbara Public Library serves Santa Barbara’s 98,837 residents from 3 locations. Last year it lent 841K books, movies and e-books and logged 287K visits.
What Santa Barbara’s library is like
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.1 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 89% of similar-size libraries. It’s 37% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
81% of Santa Barbara carry a library card
80,393 cards for 98,837 people, or 81%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
Three places to borrow in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara Public Library runs three locations, and 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.
What’s behind Santa Barbara’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Santa Barbara is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #127 of 448 in California. Santa Barbara’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls 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 →
692 community nonprofits are registered in Santa Barbara
7.9 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 (113 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 24 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.6%
6.6% of Santa Barbara’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 Santa Barbara’s residents live; 2022.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
841K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 144K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.7 times last year, on average.
307,777 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Santa Barbara Public Library serves 98,837 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 127 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 16 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 Santa Barbara last year.
4 places to borrow in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara Public Library, 40 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara.
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 Santa Barbara? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Santa Barbara
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.58 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Santa Barbara cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $8.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $13M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $8.2M 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 80,393 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Santa Barbara borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara Public Library fine-free | 8.5 | 38 | B |
| Montecito | Montecito Library fine-free | 8.5 | 36 | — unincorporated |
| Goleta | Goleta Valley Library fine-free | 7.1 | 46 | B |
| Eastern Goleta Valley | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Mission Canyon | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| University of California-Santa Barbara | 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 Santa Barbara
Does Santa Barbara have a public library?
Yes. Santa Barbara Public Library, 40 E. Anapamu St., serves Santa Barbara’s 98,837 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara’s library?
It logged 2.9 visits and lent 8.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Santa Barbara’s civic life grade?
B Santa Barbara is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on civic life, #127 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 Santa Barbara.
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.