Photo: Woodlot · CC BY-SA 3.0Gulfport’s library is a branch of Harrison County Library System, which lends less per resident than 79% of systems its size
Gulfport’s library is the Orange Grove Public Library, a branch of Harrison County Library System, which serves 210,612 people and lent 429K items last year.
What stands out about Orange Grove Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Gulfport’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Gulfport is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns, #40 of 85 in Mississippi. Gulfport is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Gulfport’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Harrison County Library System spends $16 per resident, against a typical $36 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($37K–$62K) 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 →
261 community nonprofits are registered in Gulfport
3.6 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 (86 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 11 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.6%
5.6% of Gulfport’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.4% in the typical Mississippi 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 Gulfport’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Harrison County Library System serves 210,612 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Harrison County Library System system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
429K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
48,228 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 27 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.
2 places to borrow in Gulfport
Orange Grove Public Library, 12135 Old Highway 49, Gulfport.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Harrison County Library System branch.
New in Gulfport? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Harrison County Library System branches in Gulfport
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.02 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gulfport cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $3.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.7M 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 40,746 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long Beach | Long Beach Public Library | 2.1 | 44 | C |
| Gulfport | Orange Grove Public Library | — | 45 | C− |
| Biloxi | Margaret S. Sherry Memorial Library | — | 47 | C− |
| Lyman | 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.
- System-wide. Orange Grove Public Library is one branch of Harrison County Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 210,612 people it serves.
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 Gulfport
Does Gulfport have a public library?
Yes: Orange Grove Public Library, 12135 Old Highway 49, is a branch of Harrison County Library System, which serves 210,612 people. The branch is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Harrison County Library System 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 Gulfport’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Gulfport’s civic life grade?
C− Gulfport is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns on civic life, #40 of 85 in Mississippi. 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 Gulfport.
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.