Photo: User:BillboardMister · CC BY-SA 3.0Addison’s library runs 32 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Addison Public Library serves Addison’s 35,702 residents. Last year it lent 230K books, movies and e-books and logged 160K visits.
Addison’s library, in brief
Addison invests in its library
Addison Public Library spends $149 per resident a year, about four times the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (85%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Open about 66 hours a week
Addison Public Library is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 67 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 Addison’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Addison is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns, #606 of 754 in Illinois. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($68K–$113K) 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 →
68 community nonprofits are registered in Addison
1.9 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 (17 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.4%
3.4% of Addison’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.1% in the typical Illinois 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 Addison’s residents live; 2022.
About 6 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 Addison last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Addison Public Library serves 35,702 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 67 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
230K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 136K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 time last year, on average.
30,764 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
Find it
Addison Public Library, 4 Friendship Plaza, Addison.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Addison cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.3M 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 15,316 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Addison ranks 5th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elmhurst | Elmhurst Public Library fine-free | 19.1 | 70 | A− |
| Lombard | Helen M. Plum Memorial Public Library District fine-free | 12.4 | 70 | B |
| Villa Park | Villa Park Public Library fine-free | 10.7 | 61 | B+ |
| Bloomingdale | Bloomingdale Public Library fine-free | 9.9 | 66 | C |
| Addison | Addison Public Library fine-free | 6.4 | 66 | C− |
| Wood Dale | Wood Dale Public Library District fine-free | 5.8 | 58 | C− |
| Glendale Heights | Glenside Public Library District fine-free | — | 70 | C− |
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.
- 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 Addison
Does Addison have a public library?
Yes. Addison Public Library, 4 Friendship Plaza, serves Addison’s 35,702 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Addison Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Addison’s library?
It logged 4.5 visits and lent 6.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Addison’s civic life grade?
C− Addison is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns on civic life, #606 of 754 in Illinois. 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 Addison.
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.