Prospect Heights’ library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Prospect Heights Public Library District serves Prospect Heights’s 15,044 residents. Last year it lent 183K print books and media and logged 82K visits.
What Prospect Heights’s library is like
Prospect Heights is a town of borrowers
Prospect Heights Public Library District lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 94% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Every town next door borrows more
Prospect Heights’s library lends 12 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Glenview at 17. Libraries next door ↓
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Prospect Heights Public Library District ran 999 programs last year, about 19 a week. That’s 66 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24. People show up: 25,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Prospect Heights invests in its library
Prospect Heights Public Library District spends $212 per resident a year, about five times the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (92%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
A place to get online
Prospect Heights Public Library District logs about 857 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 23 public computers. That’s 21 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
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 Prospect Heights’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Prospect Heights is ahead of 23% of U.S. towns, #562 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 ($64K–$106K) 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 →
31 community nonprofits are registered in Prospect Heights
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 (20 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.
3.5%
3.5% of Prospect Heights’ 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 Prospect Heights’ residents live; 2022.
About 12 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 5 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Prospect Heights Public Library District serves 15,044 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 57 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
183K 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 Prospect Heights’ library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 92K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2 times last year, on average.
2 places to borrow in Prospect Heights
Prospect Heights Public Library District, 12 North Elm Street, Prospect Heights.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Prospect Heights
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.34 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Prospect Heights cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $3.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.2M 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 5,516 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Prospect Heights ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glenview | Glenview Public Library fine-free | 17.4 | 72 | B+ |
| 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− |
| Wheeling | Indian Trails Public Library District fine-free | — | 71 | 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 Prospect Heights
Does Prospect Heights have a public library?
Yes. Prospect Heights Public Library District, 12 North Elm Street, serves Prospect Heights’ 15,044 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Prospect Heights Public Library District fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Prospect Heights’ library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 12.1 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Prospect Heights’ civic life grade?
C− Prospect Heights is ahead of 23% of U.S. towns on civic life, #562 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 Prospect Heights.
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.