Photo: TheLionHasSeen · CC BY-SA 4.0Lafayette’s library runs 16 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Lafayette Public Library serves 254,241 people in and around Lafayette from 5 locations. Last year it lent 1.7M books, movies and e-books and logged 758K visits.
The short version on Lafayette’s library
Above typical on nearly every measure
Against libraries serving 100,000+ people, Lafayette Public Library is above the middle on six of the seven per-resident measures we compare, and close to it on the other, with six in the top 30%. No single number stands out, and none lags far behind. How it compares ↓
Five branches in Lafayette
Lafayette has five branches of the Lafayette Public Library, which serves 254,241 people in and around Lafayette. One card works at all of them. 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; Lafayette Public Library serves 254,241 people in and around Lafayette, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Lafayette’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Lafayette is ahead of 45% of U.S. towns, #23 of 105 in Louisiana. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #106. Lafayette is graded on two of the three inputs. Lafayette’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
630 community nonprofits are registered in Lafayette
5.2 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 (136 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 20 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.8%
5.8% of Lafayette’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 Lafayette’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Lafayette Public Library serves 254,241 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 73 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lafayette Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1.7M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
301,637 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 36 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.
5 places to borrow in Lafayette
Lafayette Public Library, 301 W Congress St., Lafayette.
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 Lafayette Public Library branch.
New in Lafayette? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Lafayette Public Library branches in Lafayette
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.28 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lafayette cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $11M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $26M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $11M 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 128,701 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. Lafayette Public Library serves 254,241 people in and around Lafayette, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lafayette.
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 Lafayette
Does Lafayette have a public library?
Yes. Lafayette Public Library, 301 W Congress St., serves 254,241 people in and around Lafayette (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lafayette 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 Lafayette’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 6.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Lafayette’s civic life grade?
B− Lafayette is ahead of 45% of U.S. towns on civic life, #23 of 105 in Louisiana. 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 Lafayette.
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.