Photo: Indy beetle · CC BY-SA 4.0Mount Prospect’s library lends 16 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Mount Prospect Public Library serves Mount Prospect’s 56,852 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 889K print books and media and logged 321K visits.
What Mount Prospect’s library is like
Mount Prospect uses its library more than almost any town its size
Mount Prospect Public Library logs 5.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, and lends 16 print items per resident against a typical 3.7. On both counts it beats 91% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Top 10% in Illinois for borrowing
Mount Prospect ranks #15 of 259 Illinois towns with a library of their own for items borrowed per resident. Print borrowing alone runs 16 items per resident, more than at 97% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
Mount Prospect invests in its library
Mount Prospect Public Library spends $166 per resident a year, about four times the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (94%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Programs draw a crowd
56,000 people came to the library’s 1,419 programs last year: 1 per resident, against a typical 0.3, more than at 94% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Open about 70 hours a week
The main library is open about 70 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 148 items go out. The buildings ↓
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 Mount Prospect’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Mount Prospect is ahead of 35% of U.S. towns, #463 of 754 in Illinois. Library visits hold the grade up; Mount Prospect’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($76K–$127K) 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 →
113 community nonprofits are registered in Mount Prospect
2.0 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 (54 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 8 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.3%
6.3% of Mount Prospect’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 Mount Prospect’s residents live; 2022.
About 17 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.
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.
Mount Prospect Public Library serves 56,852 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 148 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
889K 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 Mount Prospect’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 387K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.3 times last year, on average.
2 places to borrow in Mount Prospect
Mount Prospect Public Library, 10 South Emerson Street, Mount Prospect.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Mount Prospect
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.68 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mount Prospect cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $9.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $16M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $9.5M 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 28,972 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Mount Prospect ranks 2nd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arlington Heights | Arlington Heights Memorial Library fine-free | 17.4 | 77 | B |
| Mount Prospect | Mount Prospect Public Library fine-free | 15.6 | 70 | C |
| Prospect Heights | Prospect Heights Public Library District fine-free | 12.1 | 62 | C− |
| Des Plaines | Des Plaines Public Library fine-free | 11.0 | 72 | 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.
- 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 Mount Prospect
Does Mount Prospect have a public library?
Yes. Mount Prospect Public Library, 10 South Emerson Street, serves Mount Prospect’s 56,852 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 70 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mount Prospect Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Mount Prospect’s library?
It logged 5.6 visits and lent 15.6 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Mount Prospect’s civic life grade?
C Mount Prospect is ahead of 35% of U.S. towns on civic life, #463 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 Mount Prospect.
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.