Photo: Fredlyfish4 · CC BY-SA 3.0Tupelo’s library is a branch of Lee-Itawamba Library System, which lends less per resident than 86% of systems its size
Tupelo’s library is the Lee County Library, a branch of Lee-Itawamba Library System, which serves 106,892 people and lent 186K items last year.
What Tupelo’s library is like
The Lee-Itawamba Library System is used less than most libraries its size
The Lee-Itawamba Library System records 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries serving 100,000+ people. Borrowing is 1.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2. It also spends less than most: $15 per resident, against a typical $36. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
The Lee-Itawamba Library System offered 277 programs last year, 2.6 per 1,000 residents against a typical 9. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 13% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 41% for its size. How it compares ↓
Most programs are for young children
73% of the 277 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.8 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
The Lee-Itawamba Library System spends $15 per resident, less than 91% of similar-size libraries (typical: $36). What your card is worth ↓
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; Tupelo’s library is a branch of Lee-Itawamba Library System, so they cover the whole system (106,892 people), not just the Tupelo branch.
What’s behind Tupelo’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Tupelo is ahead of 35% of U.S. towns, #22 of 85 in Mississippi. Tupelo is graded on two of the three inputs. Tupelo’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($50K–$83K) 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 →
196 community nonprofits are registered in Tupelo
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 (50 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 9 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.5%
4.5% of Tupelo’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 Tupelo’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Lee-Itawamba Library System serves 106,892 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 32 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lee-Itawamba Library System system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
186K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
28,152 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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
Lee County Library, 219 North Madison Street, Tupelo.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lee-Itawamba Library System branch.
New in Tupelo? 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 $2.06 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Tupelo cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $1.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.6M 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 13,407 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. Lee County Library is one branch of Lee-Itawamba Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 106,892 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 Tupelo
Does Tupelo have a public library?
Yes: Lee County Library, 219 North Madison Street, is a branch of Lee-Itawamba Library System, which serves 106,892 people. The branch is open about 57 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lee-Itawamba 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 Tupelo’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 1.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Tupelo’s civic life grade?
C+ Tupelo is ahead of 35% of U.S. towns on civic life, #22 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 Tupelo.
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.