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Avon Park Hist Dist city hall03Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0
Avon Park Public Library · part of Heartland Library Cooperative

Avon Park’s library is a branch of Heartland Library Cooperative, which lends less per resident than 70% of systems its size

Avon Park’s library is the Avon Park Public Library, a branch of Heartland Library Cooperative, which serves 213,496 people and lent 458K items last year.

100 North Museum Avenue, Avon Park 33825 · about 40 hours a week
C−Civic lifeAhead of 19% of U.S. towns · #158 of 273 in Florida. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Directions (863) 452-3803 What’s a card worth?
Borrowed a year
458K
2.1 per resident
Visits a year
424K
2 per resident · Below typical (2.1)
Programs & events
1,953
about 38 a week · 44K attended
Open
40 hrs
a week at this branch
In brief

What Avon Park’s library is like

Florida pays a big share

29% of the budget comes from the state, and 67% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓

Runs on less money than most

The Heartland Library Cooperative system spends $14 per resident, less than 93% of similar-size libraries (typical: $36). 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; Avon Park’s library is a branch of Heartland Library Cooperative, so they cover the whole system (213,496 people), not just the Avon Park branch.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Avon Park’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Avon Park is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns, #158 of 273 in Florida. Avon Park is graded on two of the three inputs. Avon Park’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.

C−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Avon Park’s overall grade.
–Library visitsServed by a county or regional system, so there is no town figureB−Community nonprofits3.8 per 1,000 residents · FL towns 3.3 · U.S. 3.7DVolunteering3.7% of adults 25–44 · FL towns 5.6% · U.S. 7.5%
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 19%
FewerMore
Florida towns we grade (273)Ahead of 42%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $27K–$46K (1,255)Ahead of 34%

Heartland Library Cooperative spends $14 per resident, against a typical $36 for libraries its size.

Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($27K–$46K) 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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

39 community nonprofits are registered in Avon Park

3.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture20.16 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation60.57 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans70.66 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services111.11 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education50.47 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health20.23 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals20.15 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other50.49 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (23 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.

Volunteering

3.7%

3.7% of Avon Park’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.6% in the typical Florida 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 Avon Park’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Below most similar-size libraries on all 5 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 2 visits · typical 2.1Lower than 54%
Borrowing per resident 2.1 print items · typical 3.2Lower than 70%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.2Lower than 52%
Programs offered 9.1 per 1,000 residents · typical 9Lower than 53%
Spending $14 per resident · typical $36Bottom 10%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Heartland Library Cooperative serves 213,496 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.

A year at the library

A year at Heartland Library Cooperative

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Heartland Library Cooperative system. The library’s own count.

424K
visits
2 per resident
458K
loans, print + digital
2.1 per resident
1,953
programs & events
44K attended
Every week846people at a program
Every day67Wi-Fi sessions
38 staff (full-time equivalent)92 public computers

Not reported for 2024: library cards. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.

What people borrow

Books and media off the shelf

458K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.

The survey has no count of children’s loans for Avon Park’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.

Kids & programs

About 18 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Avon Park →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5440
Ages 6–11489
Teens148
Adults737
All ages139
Little ones
8.5

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

44K
people at programs
1,953
programs
The building

Find it

Avon Park Public Library, 100 North Museum Avenue, Avon Park.

Directions(863) 452-3803
40
hours open a week
9,000
square feet
With a card

Good at every Heartland Library Cooperative branch.

New in Avon Park? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.88 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Avon Park resident borrows (the library didn’t report its card count for 2024).

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$14 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $2.9M.

Local taxes 67%State 29%Gifts & other 4%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.9M budget.

Late fines apply to some overdue items.

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 resident’s month = the library’s yearly loans and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ the 213,496 people it serves ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • Not reported for 2024: library cards. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
  • Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
  • System-wide. Avon Park Public Library is one branch of Heartland Library Cooperative, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 213,496 people it serves.

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 Avon Park

Does Avon Park have a public library?

Yes: Avon Park Public Library, 100 North Museum Avenue, is a branch of Heartland Library Cooperative, which serves 213,496 people. The branch is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Heartland Library Cooperative fine-free?

It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).

How busy is Avon Park’s library?

It logged 2.0 visits and lent 2.1 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.

What is Avon Park’s civic life grade?

C− Avon Park is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns on civic life, #158 of 273 in Florida. 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 Avon Park.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.