Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Delray Beach’s library logs 4 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Delray Beach Library serves Delray Beach’s 68,096 residents. Last year it lent 122K print books and media and logged 271K visits.
Delray Beach’s library, in brief
More of a place to be than a place to borrow
Visits per resident beat 75% of similar-size libraries, while borrowing beats only 24%. The building also logs about 169 Wi-Fi sessions a day. A year at the library ↓
Nearly everyone in Delray Beach has a card
63,921 cards for 68,096 people, or 94%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
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.
What’s behind Delray Beach’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Delray Beach is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns, #77 of 273 in Florida. Delray Beach’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($62K–$103K) 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 →
302 community nonprofits are registered in Delray Beach
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 (87 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 16 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.3%
5.3% of Delray Beach’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 Delray Beach’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Delray Beach Library serves 68,096 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 39 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
122K 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 Delray Beach’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 133K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.9 time last year, on average.
About 13 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
Delray Beach Public Library, 100 West Atlantic Avenue, Delray Beach.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.03 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Delray Beach cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.3M 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 63,921 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Delray Beach ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boca Raton | Downtown Library | 5.3 | 67 | B− |
| Delray Beach | Delray Beach Public Library fine-free | 1.8 | 61 | C+ |
| Boynton Beach | Boynton Beach City Library fine-free | 1.4 | — | C− |
| Highland Beach | Highland Beach Library | — | — | D− |
| Gulf Stream | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Delray Beach
Does Delray Beach have a public library?
Yes. Delray Beach Library, 100 West Atlantic Avenue, serves Delray Beach’s 68,096 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Delray Beach Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Delray Beach’s library?
It logged 4.0 visits and lent 1.8 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Delray Beach’s civic life grade?
C+ Delray Beach is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns on civic life, #77 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 Delray Beach.
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.