At 12.7 loans per person served, Calgary Library lends more than 82% of Alberta’s town libraries
Calgary Library serves the whole of Calgary, so the library figures on this page are the city’s: 1,285,711 people, Thorncliffe among them. Visits ran to 3.8 per person served in 2022. The figures are for 2022, the latest year Alberta has published openly.
BCivic life#85 of 474 in AlbertaWhat Thorncliffe’s civic life grade weighs
With a B, Thorncliffe ranks #85 of 474 Alberta towns on civic life. A civic life grade combines library visits per resident, registered charities per 1,000 residents and the province’s volunteering rate, and all three exist for Thorncliffe.
Informal groups and mutual aid go uncounted.
Sources: provincial statistics, the CRA, Statistics Canada.
1,993 registered charities give a Calgary mailing address
There is no count for Thorncliffe on its own: the charities are those of all of Calgary. It works out to 1.2 per 1,000 residents, where the typical Alberta town has 1.3 and Canada’s 1.4. Charities are placed by mailing address, which flatters service towns whose post office serves a region and undercounts suburbs and rural municipalities.
37.1%
37.1% of people in Alberta did formal volunteering in 2023, a province-wide estimate between 35.1% and 39.2%; across the ten provinces the rate runs from 25.2% to 40.3%.
Statistics Canada, table 45-10-0039.
Ahead of most of Alberta’s town libraries on all 3 measures
Each figure is per person served, set against 118 town libraries in Alberta’s statistics for 2022.
Town libraries only; regional systems left out.
Some 13,450 visits on an average day
Everything counted at Calgary Library in 2022: visits, loans and cards.
The closest is 1.3 km from Thorncliffe
Closest first, each distance a straight line from the centre of Thorncliffe.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Library locations. OpenStreetMap and Statistics Canada’s list of cultural facilities (2020), merged; school, college, hospital and private libraries are left out.
Questions about the library and civic life in Thorncliffe
Does Thorncliffe have a public library?
No, but Calgary Public Library - Judith Umbach branch (Thorncliffe) in Huntington Hills is the nearest public library to Thorncliffe.
How busy is Calgary Library?
The 2022 totals: 4,909,275 in-person visits, 16,347,892 loans.
Library statistics: Alberta public library statistics, 2022. Library locations: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Statistics Canada, Open Database of Cultural and Art Facilities (2020). Charities: Canada Revenue Agency, List of charities (2024), charitable organizations only.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).