Photo: RebelAt of English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Jefferson City’s library lends 5.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Missouri River Regional Library serves 90,553 people in and around Jefferson City. Last year it lent 587K books, movies and e-books and logged 188K visits.
What stands out about Missouri River Regional Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Jefferson City’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Jefferson City is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns, #50 of 229 in Missouri. Jefferson City is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Jefferson City’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 →
231 community nonprofits are registered in Jefferson City
5.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (43 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.4%
9.4% of Jefferson City’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.3% in the typical Missouri 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 Jefferson City’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.
Missouri River Regional Library serves 90,553 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 96 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Missouri River Regional Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
587K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
119,650 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 13 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
Missouri River Regional Library, 214 Adams St., Jefferson City.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Missouri River Regional Library branch.
New in Jefferson City? 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 $2.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Jefferson City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.3M 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 50,441 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson City | Missouri River Regional Library | — | 65 | A |
| Taos | None of its own | — | — | A |
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. Missouri River Regional Library serves 90,553 people in and around Jefferson City, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Jefferson City.
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 Jefferson City
Does Jefferson City have a public library?
Yes. Missouri River Regional Library, 214 Adams St., serves 90,553 people in and around Jefferson City (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Missouri River Regional 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 Jefferson City’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 6.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Jefferson City’s civic life grade?
A Jefferson City is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns on civic life, #50 of 229 in Missouri. 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 Jefferson City.
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.