Photo: Cullen328 · CC BY-SA 3.0Sonoma’s library lends 5.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Sonoma County Library serves 478,152 people in and around Sonoma. Last year it lent 4.4M books, movies and e-books and logged 1.4M visits.
The short version on Sonoma’s library
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.5 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.4, higher than at 86% of similar-size libraries. It’s 38% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
A well-funded system
Sonoma County Library spends $87 per resident a year, about twice the typical $36 for a library its size. Almost all of it (93%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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; Sonoma County Library serves 478,152 people in and around Sonoma, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Sonoma’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Sonoma is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns, #147 of 448 in California. Sonoma is graded on two of the three inputs. Sonoma’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 →
57 community nonprofits are registered in Sonoma
5.3 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.2%
6.2% of Sonoma’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 Sonoma’s residents live; 2022.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
4.4M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,678,308 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 all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Sonoma County Library serves 478,152 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 119 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Sonoma County Library system. The library’s own count.
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.
Find it
Sonoma Valley Regional Library, 755 West Napa Street, Sonoma.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Sonoma County Library branch.
New in Sonoma? 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 $1.63 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sonoma cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $42M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $68M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $42M 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 235,846 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sonoma | Sonoma Valley Regional Library fine-free | — | 52 | B− |
| El Verano | 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. Sonoma County Library serves 478,152 people in and around Sonoma, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Sonoma.
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 Sonoma
Does Sonoma have a public library?
Yes. Sonoma County Library, 755 West Napa Street, serves 478,152 people in and around Sonoma (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sonoma County 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 Sonoma’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 9.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Sonoma’s civic life grade?
B− Sonoma is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns on civic life, #147 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 Sonoma.
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.