Photo: (User:Wgreaves) · CC BY 3.0Chapel Hill’s library lends 19 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Chapel Hill Public Library serves Chapel Hill’s 63,288 residents. Last year it lent 1.5M books, movies and e-books and logged 392K visits.
Chapel Hill’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
73,771 cards for 63,288 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
Chapel Hill uses its library more than almost any town its size
Chapel Hill Public Library logs 6.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, and lends 19 print items per resident against a typical 3.7. On both counts it beats 93% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 66% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 99% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 85 items per child in Chapel Hill last year. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 4.9 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 97% of similar-size libraries. It’s 21% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
The shelves work hard
Each of the 215,000 items on the shelves went out about 5.5 times last year, on average. What people borrow ↓
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 Chapel Hill’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Chapel Hill is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns, #8 of 234 in North Carolina. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; Chapel Hill’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 →
414 community nonprofits are registered in Chapel Hill
6.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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. 28 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.2%
9.2% of Chapel Hill’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.2% in the typical North Carolina 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 Chapel Hill’s residents live; 2022.
About 6 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 Chapel Hill last year.
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.
Chapel Hill Public Library serves 63,288 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 469 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1.5M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 215K books and other items on the shelves went out about 5.5 times last year, on average.
312,482 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Chapel Hill Public Library, 100 Library Dr, Chapel Hill.
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 Chapel Hill? 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 $5.25 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Chapel Hill cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $21M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4M 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 73,771 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.
- 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 Chapel Hill
Does Chapel Hill have a public library?
Yes. Chapel Hill Public Library, 100 Library Dr, serves Chapel Hill’s 63,288 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Chapel Hill 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 Chapel Hill’s library?
It logged 6.2 visits and lent 23.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Chapel Hill’s civic life grade?
A Chapel Hill is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns on civic life, #8 of 234 in North Carolina. 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 Chapel Hill.
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.