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IL116wIL78sRoadSignsSplit-Farmington (38701184044)Photo: formulanone from Huntsville, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0
Farmington Area Library District

Farmington’s library runs 52 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size

Farmington Area Library District serves 6,925 people in and around Farmington. Last year it lent 24K print books and media and logged 19K visits.

411 North Lightfoot Road, Farmington 61531 · about 54 hours a week
ACivic lifeAhead of 94% of U.S. towns. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
24K
3.4 per resident
Visits a year
19K
2.7 per resident · Below typical (3)
Programs & events
361
about 7 a week · 6,158 attended
Cardholders
23%
1,567 cards
Open
54 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Farmington Area Public Library District

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Farmington’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Farmington is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns. Farmington is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Farmington’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.

A
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Farmington’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 94%
FewerMore
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $49K–$82K (8,590)Ahead of 93%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Farmington is small (2,298 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

16 community nonprofits are registered in Farmington

7.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture10.49 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation20.98 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans73.41 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services10.49 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education41.95 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other10.49 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

10.1%

10.1% of Farmington’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 Farmington’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 6 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 2.7 visits · typical 3Lower than 55%
Borrowing per resident 3.4 print items · typical 3.8Lower than 55%
Program attendance 0.9 attendees · typical 0.5Higher than 74%
Programs offered 52.1 per 1,000 residents · typical 34Higher than 69%
Cardholders 23% of residents · typical 42%Lower than 82%
Spending $56 per resident · typical $43Higher than 66%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Farmington Area Library District serves 6,925 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Farmington Area Library District system. The library’s own count.

19K
visits
2.7 per resident
24K
loans, print + digital
3.4 per resident
361
programs & events
6,158 attended
1,567
library cards
23% of people served
Every open hour8items borrowed
Every week118people at a program
Every day3Wi-Fi sessions
5 staff (full-time equivalent)26 public computers
What people borrow

Books and media off the shelf

24K 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 Farmington’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.

Kids & programs

About 3 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Farmington →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–518
Ages 6–11140
Teens33
Adults88
All ages82
Little ones
0.3

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

6,158
people at programs
361
programs
The building

Find it

Farmington Area Public Library District, 411 North Lightfoot Road, Farmington.

54
hours open a week
9,605
square feet
With a card

No late fees. Good at every Farmington Area Library District branch.

New in Farmington? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.21 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Farmington cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$56 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $388K.

Local taxes 81%State 4%Federal 4%Gifts & other 12%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $470K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $388K 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 1,567 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

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.
  • System-wide. Farmington Area Library District serves 6,925 people in and around Farmington, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Farmington.

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 Farmington

Does Farmington have a public library?

Yes. Farmington Area Library District, 411 North Lightfoot Road, serves 6,925 people in and around Farmington (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Farmington Area Library District fine-free?

Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).

How busy is Farmington’s library?

It logged 2.7 visits and lent 3.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.

What is Farmington’s civic life grade?

A Farmington is ahead of 94% 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 Farmington.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.