Photo: bogdanstepniak · CC BY 3.0Carol Stream’s library lends 9.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Carol Stream Public Library serves Carol Stream’s 39,854 residents. Last year it lent 376K print books and media and logged 166K visits.
What Carol Stream’s library is like
Carol Stream is a town of borrowers
Carol Stream Public Library lends 9.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 89% of similar-size libraries. Each item on the shelves went out about 4.4 times last year. What people borrow ↓
Open about 69 hours a week
Carol Stream Public Library is open about 69 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 105 items go out. The building ↓
The shelves work hard
Each of the 87,000 items on the shelves went out about 4.4 times last year, on average. What people borrow ↓
Carol Stream invests in its library
Carol Stream Public Library spends $85 per resident a year, about twice the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (89%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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 Carol Stream’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Carol Stream is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns, #551 of 754 in Illinois. Library visits hold the grade up; Carol Stream’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($77K–$128K) 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 →
77 community nonprofits are registered in Carol Stream
2.0 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 (34 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.8%
5.8% of Carol Stream’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 Carol Stream’s residents live; 2022.
Books and media off the shelf
376K 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 Carol Stream’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 87K books and other items on the shelves went out about 4.4 times last year, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Carol Stream Public Library serves 39,854 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 105 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 10 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.
Find it
Carol Stream Public Library, 616 Hiawatha Drive, Carol Stream.
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 $1.96 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Carol Stream cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.4M 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 18,574 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Carol Stream ranks 4th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glen Ellyn | Glen Ellyn Public Library fine-free | 19.3 | 69 | A |
| Wheaton | Wheaton Public Library fine-free | 17.2 | 68 | A− |
| Bloomingdale | Bloomingdale Public Library fine-free | 9.9 | 66 | C |
| Carol Stream | Carol Stream Public Library fine-free | 9.4 | 69 | C− |
| Wayne Township | Bartlett Public Library District | 7.4 | 68 | D |
| Bartlett | Bartlett Public Library District | 7.4 | 68 | C |
| Winfield | Winfield Public Library fine-free | 5.8 | 62 | C+ |
| Glendale Heights | Glenside Public Library District fine-free | — | 70 | C− |
| Bloomingdale Township | Glenside Public Library District fine-free | — | 70 | D |
| Hanover Park | Sonya Crawshaw Branch Library | — | 66 | D− |
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. Illinois libraries often don’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 Carol Stream
Does Carol Stream have a public library?
Yes. Carol Stream Public Library, 616 Hiawatha Drive, serves Carol Stream’s 39,854 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 69 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Carol Stream Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Carol Stream’s library?
It logged 4.2 visits and lent 9.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Carol Stream’s civic life grade?
C− Carol Stream is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns on civic life, #551 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 Carol Stream.
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.