Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0Ray City has no public library of its own; the nearest is Miller Lakeland Library in Lakeland, 7.5 miles away
Ray City doesn’t have a public library of its own. The closest is Miller Lakeland Library in Lakeland, 7.5 miles away. Many small-town libraries give cards to neighbors, sometimes for a yearly fee, so call ahead.
D−Civic lifeAhead of 2% of U.S. towns. Nonprofits and volunteering.Getting a library card from Ray City
Ray City borrows from the libraries next door
Ray City has no public library of its own, but two libraries are within 10 miles, the closest being Miller Lakeland Library in Lakeland (7.5 miles). Many small-town libraries give cards to people from neighboring towns, sometimes for a yearly fee, so call ahead. Nearest libraries ↓
The closest isn’t the one open longest
Miller Lakeland Library is nearest, open about 19 hours a week. Carrie Dorsey Perry Memorial Library, 10 miles away, is open about 40 hours a week, so it may be easier to fit in. Nearest libraries ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Distances are straight-line from the town center.
What’s behind Ray City’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ray City is ahead of 2% of U.S. towns. Ray City is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($42K–$70K) 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 →
Ray City has few registered community nonprofits
0.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.3%
4.3% of Ray City’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.9% in the typical Georgia 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 Ray City’s residents live; 2022.
The closest is 7.5 miles away
Closest first, measured from the center of Ray City. Each one’s hours, and whether it charges late fines.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Ray City
Does Ray City have a public library?
No. The closest is Miller Lakeland Library in Lakeland, 7.5 miles from the town center. Many libraries give cards to people from neighboring towns, sometimes for a yearly fee, so call ahead.
What is Ray City’s civic life grade?
D− Ray City is ahead of 2% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Ray City.
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.