Photo: Wknight94 · CC BY-SA 3.0Punta Gorda’s library is a branch of Charlotte County Public Library, which lends less per resident than 58% of systems its size
Punta Gorda’s library is the Punta Gorda Public Library, a branch of Charlotte County Public Library, which serves 209,334 people and lent 590K items last year.
What stands out about Punta Gorda Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Punta Gorda’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Punta Gorda is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns, #30 of 273 in Florida. Punta Gorda is graded on two of the three inputs. Punta Gorda’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
116 community nonprofits are registered in Punta Gorda
5.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (19 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.
6.8%
6.8% of Punta Gorda’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 Punta Gorda’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Charlotte County Public Library serves 209,334 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
A year at Charlotte County Public Library
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Charlotte County Public Library 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
590K 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 Punta Gorda’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
About 13 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
Punta Gorda Public Library, 401 Shreve Street, Punta Gorda.
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 $1.80 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Punta Gorda cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $5.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.8M 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 cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 81,544 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punta Gorda | Punta Gorda Public Library | — | 50 | B |
| Charlotte Park | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Solana | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Charlotte Harbor | 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. Punta Gorda Public Library is one branch of Charlotte County Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 209,334 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 Punta Gorda
Does Punta Gorda have a public library?
Yes: Punta Gorda Public Library, 401 Shreve Street, is a branch of Charlotte County Public Library, which serves 209,334 people. The branch is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Charlotte County Public Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Punta Gorda’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 2.8 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Punta Gorda’s civic life grade?
B Punta Gorda is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns on civic life, #30 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 Punta Gorda.
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.