Photo: Matthew Binebrink · CC BY-SA 4.0Baltimore’s library runs 16 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Enoch Pratt Free Library serves Baltimore’s 576,498 residents from 21 locations. Last year it lent 2.4M books, movies and e-books and logged 1.2M visits.
Baltimore’s library, in brief
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
46% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 36%. What your card is worth ↓
21 places to borrow in Baltimore
Enoch Pratt Free Library runs 21 locations, and one card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
48% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 48% of loans, more per resident than at 64% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 52%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
Baltimore invests in its library
Enoch Pratt Free Library spends $93 per resident a year, about twice the typical $36 for a library its size. What your card is worth ↓
A place to get online
Enoch Pratt Free Library logs about 6,545 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 985 public computers. That’s 4.1 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 Baltimore’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Baltimore is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns, #45 of 67 in Maryland. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #135. Baltimore’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($47K–$78K) 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 →
2,973 community nonprofits are registered in Baltimore
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 (1,087 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 185 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.2%
6.2% of Baltimore’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.2% in the typical Maryland 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 Baltimore’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Enoch Pratt Free Library serves 576,498 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 53 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
48% of borrowing is digital
2.4M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 2.2M books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
1,158,443 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 49 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Baltimore last year.
22 places to borrow in Baltimore
Enoch Pratt Central, 400 Cathedral St., Baltimore.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Baltimore? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Baltimore
And 9 more in Baltimore.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Baltimore cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $54M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $44M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $54M 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 233,646 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.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore | Enoch Pratt Central fine-free | 4.2 | 51 | C+ |
| Rosedale | Rosedale Branch fine-free | — | 60 | — unincorporated |
| Pikesville | Pikesville Branch fine-free | — | 61 | — unincorporated |
| Dundalk | North Point Area Branch fine-free | — | 62 | — unincorporated |
| Towson | Towson Branch fine-free | — | 62 | — unincorporated |
| Woodlawn | Woodlawn Branch fine-free | — | 60 | — unincorporated |
| Brooklyn Park | Brooklyn Park Community Library fine-free | — | 55 | — unincorporated |
| Arbutus | Arbutus Branch fine-free | — | 62 | — unincorporated |
| Parkville | Loch Raven fine-free | — | 60 | — unincorporated |
| Pasadena | Riviera Beach Community Library fine-free | — | 58 | — unincorporated |
| Lochearn | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Baltimore
Does Baltimore have a public library?
Yes. Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral St., serves Baltimore’s 576,498 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Enoch Pratt Free 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 Baltimore’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 4.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Baltimore’s civic life grade?
C+ Baltimore is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns on civic life, #45 of 67 in Maryland. 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 Baltimore.
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.