Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Denver’s library logs 3.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Denver Public Library serves 715,636 people in and around Denver from 27 locations. Last year it lent 8.7M books, movies and e-books and logged 2.6M visits.
What Denver’s library is like
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 52% of loans, more per resident than at 97% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 48%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Denver Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1990. Today’s library there has 540,315 square feet. The buildings ↓
27 branches in Denver
Denver has 27 branches of the Denver Public Library, which serves 715,636 people in and around Denver. One card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
A well-funded system
Denver Public Library spends $128 per resident a year, about four times the typical $36 for a library its size. Almost all of it (96%) 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; Denver Public Library serves 715,636 people in and around Denver, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Denver’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Denver is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns, #48 of 104 in Colorado. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #73. Denver’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 →
3,218 community nonprofits are registered in Denver
4.5 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 (715 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 191 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.3%
7.3% of Denver’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.8% in the typical Colorado 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 Denver’s residents live; 2022.
52% of borrowing is digital
8.7M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
4,503,930 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.
Denver Public Library serves 715,636 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
A year at Denver Public Library
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Denver Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 84 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.
A National Register landmark since 1990
Denver Public Library, 10 W. 14th Ave, Denver.
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 Denver Public Library branch.
New in Denver? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Denver Public Library
Denver Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Dec 6, 1990. It is significant for its architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as International Style.
The Denver Public Library is the public library system of the City and County of Denver, Colorado. The system includes the Denver Central Library, located in the Golden Triangle district of Downtown Denver, as well as 28 branch locations and two bookmobiles. The library's collection totals more than 2 million items, including books, reference materials, movies, music, and photographs.
More about the building →Other Denver Public Library branches in Denver
And 15 more in Denver.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.46 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Denver cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $91M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $133M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $91M 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 376,489 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Littleton | Littleton/Bemis Public Library fine-free | 11.0 | 64 | B+ |
| Englewood | Englewood Public Library fine-free | 6.2 | 60 | C+ |
| Aurora | Aurora Public Library Central Library fine-free | 2.8 | 48 | D |
| Denver | Denver Public Library fine-free | — | 25 | B |
| Lakewood | Lakewood Library fine-free | — | 65 | C |
| Four Square Mile | Eloise May Branch fine-free | — | 69 | — unincorporated |
| Commerce City | Commerce City Branch Library fine-free | — | 46 | D− |
| Bow Mar | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
| North Washington | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Berkley | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Greenwood Village | None of its own | — | — | B− |
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. Denver Public Library serves 715,636 people in and around Denver, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Denver.
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 Denver
Does Denver have a public library?
Yes. Denver Public Library, 10 W. 14th Ave, serves 715,636 people in and around Denver (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Denver 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 Denver’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 12.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Denver’s civic life grade?
B Denver is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns on civic life, #48 of 104 in Colorado. 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 Denver.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.