Seaboard Airline Railroad Station · Photo: Jhw57 · CC BY-SA 3.0Palm Beach Gardens’ library is a branch of Palm Beach County Library System, which lends more per resident than 75% of systems its size
Palm Beach Gardens’s library is the Gardens Branch, a branch of Palm Beach County Library System, which serves 1,007,170 people and lent 5.7M items last year.
What stands out about Gardens Branch
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Palm Beach Gardens’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Palm Beach Gardens is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns, #125 of 273 in Florida. Palm Beach Gardens is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Palm Beach Gardens’ count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($80K–$134K) 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 →
207 community nonprofits are registered in Palm Beach Gardens
3.4 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 (43 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.
6.2%
6.2% of Palm Beach Gardens’ 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 Palm Beach Gardens’ 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.
Palm Beach County Library System serves 1,007,170 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
A year at Palm Beach County Library System
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Palm Beach County Library System system. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Books and media off the shelf
5.7M 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 Palm Beach Gardens’ library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
About 102 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.
Find it
Gardens Branch, 11303 Campus Drive, Palm Beach Gardens.
No late fees. Good at every Palm Beach County Library System branch.
New in Palm Beach Gardens? The Handbook →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 $1.68 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Palm Beach Gardens cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $59M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $99M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $59M 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 329,082 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Palm Beach | North Palm Beach Public Library fine-free | 3.9 | 58 | B+ |
| West Palm Beach | Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach fine-free | 2.5 | 63 | C |
| Lake Park | Lake Park Public Library fine-free | 0.5 | 54 | C |
| Riviera Beach | Riviera Beach Public Library fine-free | 0.2 | — | C |
| Palm Beach Gardens | Gardens Branch fine-free | — | — | C |
| The Acreage | Acreage Branch fine-free | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Jupiter | Jupiter Branch Library fine-free | — | — | C+ |
| Cabana Colony | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Juno Ridge | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Jupiter Farms | 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.
- Not reported for 2024: hours open. 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. Gardens Branch is one branch of Palm Beach County Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 1,007,170 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 Palm Beach Gardens
Does Palm Beach Gardens have a public library?
Yes: Gardens Branch, 11303 Campus Drive, is a branch of Palm Beach County Library System, which serves 1,007,170 people.
Is Palm Beach County Library System fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Palm Beach Gardens’ library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 5.6 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Palm Beach Gardens’ civic life grade?
C Palm Beach Gardens is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns on civic life, #125 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 Palm Beach Gardens.
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.