Photo: OzarksRazorback · CC BY-SA 4.0Destrehan’s library runs 31 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
St. Charles Parish Library serves 50,400 people in and around Destrehan. Last year it lent 247K books, movies and e-books and logged 134K visits.
What Destrehan’s library is like
A well-funded system
St. Charles Parish Library spends $148 per resident a year, about four times the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (90%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
80% of the people it serves carry a library card
40,257 cards for 50,400 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; St. Charles Parish Library serves 50,400 people in and around Destrehan, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Destrehan’s civic life grade
Destrehan isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of St. Charles Parish Library, so there is no town figure for visits.
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 →
Volunteering in Destrehan
Destrehan is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
8.0%
8.0% of Destrehan’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.9% in the typical Louisiana 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 Destrehan’s residents live; 2022.
About 11 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
St. Charles Parish Library serves 50,400 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole St. Charles Parish Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
247K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
71,663 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
St. Charles Parish Library, 160 W. Campus Drive, Destrehan.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every St. Charles Parish Library branch.
New in Destrehan? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Destrehan cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $7.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $7.5M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 40,257 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. St. Charles Parish Library serves 50,400 people in and around Destrehan, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Destrehan.
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 Destrehan
Does Destrehan have a public library?
Yes. St. Charles Parish Library, 160 W. Campus Drive, serves 50,400 people in and around Destrehan (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is St. Charles Parish Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Destrehan’s library?
It logged 2.7 visits and lent 4.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Destrehan’s civic life grade?
Destrehan isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of St. Charles Parish Library, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Destrehan.
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.