Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 4.0Paducah’s library lends 5.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Mccracken County Public Library serves 67,428 people in and around Paducah. Last year it lent 545K books, movies and e-books and logged 177K visits.
Paducah’s library, in brief
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.8 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 85% of similar-size libraries. It’s 34% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
80% of the people it serves carry a library card
53,936 cards for 67,428 people, or 80%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
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; Mccracken County Public Library serves 67,428 people in and around Paducah, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Paducah’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Paducah is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns, #3 of 126 in Kentucky. Paducah is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Paducah’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
190 community nonprofits are registered in Paducah
7.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (48 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.
11.4%
11.4% of Paducah’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.6% in the typical Kentucky 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 Paducah’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Mccracken County Public Library serves 67,428 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 156 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Mccracken County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
545K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
186,306 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, 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
Mccracken County Public Library, 555 Washington Street, Paducah.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Mccracken County Public Library branch.
New in Paducah? The Handbook →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 $2.74 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Paducah cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.1M 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 53,936 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.
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.
- System-wide. Mccracken County Public Library serves 67,428 people in and around Paducah, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Paducah.
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 Paducah
Does Paducah have a public library?
Yes. Mccracken County Public Library, 555 Washington Street, serves 67,428 people in and around Paducah (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mccracken County Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Paducah’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 8.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Paducah’s civic life grade?
A+ Paducah is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns on civic life, #3 of 126 in Kentucky. 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 Paducah.
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.