Photo: Pgnielsen79 · CC BY 3.0Santa Paula’s library runs 6.4 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Blanchard/Santa Paula Public Library District serves Santa Paula’s 31,355 residents. Last year it lent 79K books, movies and e-books and logged 53K visits.
What Santa Paula’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, Blanchard/Santa Paula Public Library District sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on five. How it compares ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 19% of the people Blanchard/Santa Paula Public Library District serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 61% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 68% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. What people borrow ↓
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 Paula’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Santa Paula is ahead of 11% of U.S. towns, #282 of 448 in California. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Santa Paula’s 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($59K–$99K) 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 →
65 community nonprofits are registered in Santa Paula
2.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (33 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.2%
6.2% of Santa Paula’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 Paula’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Blanchard/Santa Paula Public Library District serves 31,355 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 44 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
79K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 63K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
26,369 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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 Paula last year.
Find it
Blanchard Community Library, 119 N. Eighth St., Santa Paula.
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 Paula? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Santa Paula cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 5,937 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Blanchard/Santa Paula Public Library District counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Paula
Does Santa Paula have a public library?
Yes. Blanchard/Santa Paula Public Library District, 119 N. Eighth St., serves Santa Paula’s 31,355 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Blanchard/Santa Paula Public Library District 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 Paula’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 2.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Santa Paula’s civic life grade?
D Santa Paula is ahead of 11% of U.S. towns on civic life, #282 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 Paula.
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.