Photo: Kristina D.C. Hoeppner from Wellington, New Zealand · CC BY-SA 2.0Vancouver has 24 public library branches
Vancouver Public Library counts 742,394 people in its service area. 6.5 visits per person served came through its doors in 2025. The figures come from British Columbia’s public library statistics for 2025, as the library filed them.
–Civic lifeNot gradedThe three inputs behind a civic life grade for Vancouver
Not graded: a city is graded through its neighbourhoods, each on its own figures.
Informal groups and mutual aid go uncounted.
Sources: provincial statistics, the CRA, Statistics Canada.
Vancouver mailing addresses hold 1,798 registered charities
That is 2.4 per 1,000 residents, against 1.2 in the typical British Columbia town and 1.4 across Canada. The CRA files each charity under its mailing address, so a service town collects its region’s charities and a suburb or rural municipality few.
36.9%
Statistics Canada puts formal volunteering in British Columbia at 36.9% in 2023, somewhere between 35.2% and 38.7%, for every town in the province alike; provinces range from 25.2% to 40.3%.
Statistics Canada, table 45-10-0039.
Ahead of most of British Columbia’s town libraries on all 2 measures
Each figure is per person served, set against 32 town libraries in British Columbia’s statistics for 2025.
Town libraries only; regional systems left out.
About 13,208 visits a day
Everything counted at Vancouver Public Library in 2025: visits, loans and cards.
24 public libraries in Vancouver
Sorted by straight-line distance from the centre of Vancouver.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Visits count everyone. A busy library may owe some of its visits to people who live outside Vancouver; the figure can’t tell them apart.
Questions about the library and civic life in Vancouver
Does Vancouver have a public library?
Yes, 24: Vancouver Public Library Kerrisdale Branch, VPL: Britannia Branch, VPL: Carnegie Branch, VPL: Central Library and 20 more.
How busy is Vancouver Public Library?
It counted 4,820,937 in-person visits in 2025.
Library statistics: BC Public Libraries Statistics, 2025. 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).