Photo: PopePompus · CC BY-SA 4.0Grimes’ library logs 7.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Grimes Public Library serves Grimes’s 16,834 residents. Last year it lent 128K print books and media and logged 119K visits.
What Grimes’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 57% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 86% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 16 items per child in Grimes last year. Kids & programs ↓
People come to Grimes Public Library a lot
Grimes Public Library logs 7.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 91% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 7.6 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Open about 64 hours a week
Grimes Public Library is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 46 items go out. The building ↓
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 Grimes’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Grimes is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns, #80 of 138 in Iowa. Library visits hold the grade up; Grimes’ count of community nonprofits 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 →
56 community nonprofits are registered in Grimes
3.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.4%
8.4% of Grimes’ Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.6% in the typical Iowa 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 Grimes’ residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 46 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Grimes Public Library serves 16,834 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
128K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 39K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.3 times last year, on average.
About 4 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Grimes last year.
Find it
Grimes Public Library, 200 NE Beaverbrooke Blvd, Grimes.
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 Grimes cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 10,721 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Grimes ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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 Grimes
Does Grimes have a public library?
Yes. Grimes Public Library, 200 NE Beaverbrooke Blvd, serves Grimes’ 16,834 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Grimes Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Grimes’ library?
It logged 7.1 visits and lent 7.6 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Grimes’ civic life grade?
B+ Grimes is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns on civic life, #80 of 138 in Iowa. 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 Grimes.
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.