Pelletier House and Wantland Spring · Photo: Hammerattack at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Jacksonville’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Onslow County Public Library serves 213,447 people in and around Jacksonville. Last year it lent 594K books, movies and e-books and logged 283K visits.
The short version on Jacksonville’s library
Open about 70 hours a week
The Jacksonville branch is open about 70 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
Runs on less money than most
Onslow County Public Library spends $13 per resident, less than 94% 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; Onslow County Public Library serves 213,447 people in and around Jacksonville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Jacksonville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Jacksonville is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns, #164 of 234 in North Carolina. Jacksonville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Jacksonville’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Onslow County Public Library spends $13 per resident, against a typical $36 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($43K–$72K) 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 →
192 community nonprofits are registered in Jacksonville
2.7 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 (65 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 14 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.4%
5.4% of Jacksonville’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 Jacksonville’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.
Onslow County Public Library serves 213,447 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 51 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Onslow County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
594K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
153,420 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
Onslow County Public Library, 58 Doris Avenue E, Jacksonville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Onslow County Public Library branch.
New in Jacksonville? 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 $3.40 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Jacksonville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $2.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $9.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.7M 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 55,553 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville | Onslow County Public Library | — | 70 | D |
| Piney Green | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Half Moon | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Pumpkin Center | 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. Onslow County Public Library serves 213,447 people in and around Jacksonville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Jacksonville.
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 Jacksonville
Does Jacksonville have a public library?
Yes. Onslow County Public Library, 58 Doris Avenue E, serves 213,447 people in and around Jacksonville (the survey’s count) and is open about 70 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Onslow County Public 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 Jacksonville’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Jacksonville’s civic life grade?
D Jacksonville is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns on civic life, #164 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 Jacksonville.
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.