Colony House · Photo: Los Angeles · CC BY-SA 3.0Simi Valley’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Simi Valley Public Library serves Simi Valley’s 124,029 residents. Last year it lent 387K books, movies and e-books and logged 155K visits.
What stands out about Simi Valley’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Simi Valley’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Simi Valley is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns, #242 of 448 in California. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #223. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($92K–$153K) 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 →
310 community nonprofits are registered in Simi Valley
2.5 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 (84 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 18 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.6%
7.6% of Simi Valley’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 Simi Valley’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Simi Valley Public Library serves 124,029 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 134 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
387K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 117K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.8 times last year, on average.
57,580 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 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 Simi Valley last year.
Find it
Simi Valley Public Library, 2969 Tapo Canyon Rd, Simi Valley.
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 Simi Valley? 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 $2.08 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Simi Valley cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $2.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.9M 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 36,448 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Simi Valley ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thousand Oaks | Thousand Oaks Library fine-free | 7.9 | 58 | B |
| Simi Valley | Simi Valley Public Library fine-free | 3.1 | 56 | C− |
| Moorpark | Moorpark City Library fine-free | 2.6 | 57 | C− |
| Santa Susana | 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 Simi Valley
Does Simi Valley have a public library?
Yes. Simi Valley Public Library, 2969 Tapo Canyon Rd, serves Simi Valley’s 124,029 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 56 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Simi Valley 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 Simi Valley’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 3.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Simi Valley’s civic life grade?
C− Simi Valley is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns on civic life, #242 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 Simi Valley.
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.