Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Pueblo’s library runs 33 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Pueblo City-County Library District serves 169,427 people in and around Pueblo from 5 locations. Last year it lent 1.4M books, movies and e-books and logged 614K visits.
What Pueblo’s library is like
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Pueblo City-County Library District ran 5,517 programs last year, about 106 a week. That’s 33 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9. People show up: 140,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Open about 70 hours a week
The Pueblo branch is open about 70 hours a week, averaged over the year. The buildings ↓
Five branches in Pueblo
Pueblo has five branches of the Pueblo City-County Library District, which serves 169,427 people in and around Pueblo. One card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
A well-funded system
Pueblo City-County Library District spends $78 per resident a year, about twice 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; Pueblo City-County Library District serves 169,427 people in and around Pueblo, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Pueblo’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Pueblo is ahead of 11% of U.S. towns, #87 of 104 in Colorado. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #276. Pueblo is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Pueblo’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($42K–$71K) 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 →
332 community nonprofits are registered in Pueblo
3.0 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 (89 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 10 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.3%
4.3% of Pueblo’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 Pueblo’s residents live; 2022.
About 41 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Pueblo City-County Library District serves 169,427 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 69 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Pueblo City-County Library District system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
1.4M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
545,479 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
5 places to borrow in Pueblo
Robert Hoag Rawlings Public Library, 100 East Abriendo Avenue, Pueblo.
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 Pueblo City-County Library District branch.
New in Pueblo? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Pueblo City-County Library District branches in Pueblo
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.82 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pueblo cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $13M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $24M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $13M 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 122,220 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pueblo | Robert Hoag Rawlings Public Library fine-free | — | 70 | D |
| Pueblo West | Pueblo West Library fine-free | — | 66 | — 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. Pueblo City-County Library District serves 169,427 people in and around Pueblo, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Pueblo.
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 Pueblo
Does Pueblo have a public library?
Yes. Pueblo City-County Library District, 100 East Abriendo Avenue, serves 169,427 people in and around Pueblo (the survey’s count) and is open about 70 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pueblo City-County Library District 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 Pueblo’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 8.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Pueblo’s civic life grade?
D Pueblo is ahead of 11% of U.S. towns on civic life, #87 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 Pueblo.
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.