Photo: Cosmo1976 · Public domainCrystal Lake’s library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Crystal Lake Public Library serves Crystal Lake’s 40,269 residents. Last year it lent 486K print books and media and logged 158K visits.
What Crystal Lake’s library is like
Crystal Lake is a town of borrowers
Crystal Lake Public Library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 93% of similar-size libraries. Each item on the shelves went out about 3.7 times last year. What people borrow ↓
Open about 65 hours a week
Crystal Lake Public Library is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 144 items go out. The building ↓
Crystal Lake invests in its library
Crystal Lake Public Library spends $116 per resident a year, about three times the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (90%) 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 Crystal Lake’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Crystal Lake is ahead of 68% of U.S. towns, #202 of 754 in Illinois. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
169 community nonprofits are registered in Crystal Lake
4.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (30 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.
9.0%
9.0% of Crystal Lake’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 Crystal Lake’s residents live; 2022.
Books and media off the shelf
486K 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 Crystal Lake’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 132K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.7 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.
Crystal Lake Public Library serves 40,269 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 144 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
Crystal Lake Public Library, 126 Paddock Street, Crystal Lake.
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 $1.84 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Crystal Lake cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.7M 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 17,814 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crystal Lake | Crystal Lake Public Library fine-free | 12.1 | 65 | B+ |
| Dorr Township | Woodstock Public Library fine-free | 9.9 | 65 | B+ |
| Cary | Cary Area Public Library District fine-free | — | 66 | B− |
| Grafton Township | Huntley Area Public Library District fine-free | — | 63 | C |
| Lake in the Hills | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Prairie Grove | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Lakewood | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Ridgefield | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 Crystal Lake
Does Crystal Lake have a public library?
Yes. Crystal Lake Public Library, 126 Paddock Street, serves Crystal Lake’s 40,269 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Crystal Lake Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Crystal Lake’s library?
It logged 3.9 visits and lent 12.1 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Crystal Lake’s civic life grade?
B+ Crystal Lake is ahead of 68% of U.S. towns on civic life, #202 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 Crystal Lake.
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.