Photo: Beyonce245 of English Wikipedia. · Public domainGreensboro’s library logs 2.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Greensboro Public Library serves 435,509 people in and around Greensboro from 8 locations. Last year it lent 1.8M books, movies and e-books and logged 1.1M visits.
The short version on Greensboro’s library
Open about 80 hours a week
The Greensboro branch is open about 80 hours a week, averaged over the year. The buildings ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 68% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 53% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Eight branches in Greensboro
Greensboro has eight branches of the Greensboro Public Library, which serves 435,509 people in and around Greensboro. One card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
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; Greensboro Public Library serves 435,509 people in and around Greensboro, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Greensboro’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Greensboro is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns, #104 of 234 in North Carolina. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #164. Greensboro is graded on two of the three inputs. Greensboro’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 ($46K–$77K) 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 →
1,362 community nonprofits are registered in Greensboro
4.5 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 (399 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 70 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.8%
4.8% of Greensboro’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 Greensboro’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Greensboro Public Library serves 435,509 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 63 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Greensboro Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1.8M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
714,003 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 24 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.
8 places to borrow in Greensboro
Greensboro Public Library, 219 N Church St., Greensboro.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Greensboro Public Library branch.
New in Greensboro? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Greensboro Public Library branches in Greensboro
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.38 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Greensboro cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $11M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $26M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $11M 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 198,427 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Point | High Point Public Library fine-free | 6.7 | 66 | D |
| Greensboro | Greensboro Public Library fine-free | — | 80 | C |
| Kernersville | Paddison Memorial Branch Library fine-free | — | 60 | C− |
| Summerfield | None of its own | — | — | B |
| McLeansville | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Jamestown | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Forest Oaks | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Oak Ridge | None of its own | — | — | B− |
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. Greensboro Public Library serves 435,509 people in and around Greensboro, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Greensboro.
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 Greensboro
Does Greensboro have a public library?
Yes. Greensboro Public Library, 219 N Church St., serves 435,509 people in and around Greensboro (the survey’s count) and is open about 80 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Greensboro 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 Greensboro’s library?
It logged 2.5 visits and lent 4.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Greensboro’s civic life grade?
C Greensboro is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns on civic life, #104 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 Greensboro.
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.