Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Jacksonville’s library lends 3.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Jacksonville Public Library serves 1,062,145 people in and around Jacksonville from 20 locations. Last year it lent 3.8M print books and media and logged 2.2M visits.
The short version on Jacksonville’s library
20 branches in Jacksonville
Jacksonville has 20 branches of the Jacksonville Public Library, which serves 1,062,145 people in and around Jacksonville. One card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
Most programs are for young children
67% of the 11,629 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 41 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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; Jacksonville Public Library serves 1,062,145 people in and around Jacksonville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Jacksonville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Jacksonville is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns, #171 of 273 in Florida. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #239. Jacksonville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Jacksonville’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($52K–$87K) 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 →
2,985 community nonprofits are registered in Jacksonville
3.1 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 (1,383 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 202 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.3%
5.3% of Jacksonville’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 Jacksonville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Jacksonville Public Library serves 1,062,145 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 72 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Jacksonville Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
3.8M 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 Jacksonville’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
About 149 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.
20 places to borrow in Jacksonville
Jacksonville Public Library - Main Library, 303 North Laura Street, Jacksonville.
No late fees. Good at every Jacksonville Public Library branch.
New in Jacksonville? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Jacksonville Public Library branches in Jacksonville
And 7 more in Jacksonville.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.68 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Jacksonville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $68M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4M 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 354,374 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville | Jacksonville Public Library - Main Library fine-free | — | 51 | C− |
| Fruit Cove | Bartram Trail Branch Library | — | 47 | — unincorporated |
| Orange Park | Orange Park Branch Library | — | 53 | C+ |
| Neptune Beach | Beaches Branch fine-free | — | 46 | B |
| Fleming Island | Clay County Library Headquarters | — | 53 | — unincorporated |
| Atlantic Beach | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Nassau Village-Ratliff | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Jacksonville Beach | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Bellair-Meadowbrook Terrace | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Oakleaf Plantation | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Nocatee | None of its own | — | — | — 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.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Jacksonville Public Library serves 1,062,145 people in and around Jacksonville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Jacksonville.
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 Jacksonville
Does Jacksonville have a public library?
Yes. Jacksonville Public Library, 303 North Laura Street, serves 1,062,145 people in and around Jacksonville (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Jacksonville Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Jacksonville’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 3.6 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Jacksonville’s civic life grade?
C− Jacksonville is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns on civic life, #171 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 Jacksonville.
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.