Photo: Kharris0317 · CC BY-SA 4.0Salisbury’s library lends 2.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Rowan Public Library serves 152,450 people in and around Salisbury. Last year it lent 492K books, movies and e-books and logged 273K visits.
What stands out about Rowan Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Salisbury’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Salisbury is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns, #63 of 234 in North Carolina. Salisbury is graded on two of the three inputs. Salisbury’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 ($40K–$67K) 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 →
221 community nonprofits are registered in Salisbury
6.2 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 (58 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.6%
4.6% of Salisbury’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 Salisbury’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.
Rowan Public Library serves 152,450 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 41 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Rowan Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
492K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
134,601 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 21 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
Rowan Public Library, 201 W Fisher St., Salisbury.
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 Rowan Public Library branch.
New in Salisbury? 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 $2.02 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Salisbury cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $3.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $7.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.7M 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 90,098 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salisbury | Rowan Public Library fine-free | — | 54 | C+ |
| Spencer | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| East Spencer | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Granite Quarry | None of its own | — | — | C− |
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. Rowan Public Library serves 152,450 people in and around Salisbury, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Salisbury.
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 Salisbury
Does Salisbury have a public library?
Yes. Rowan Public Library, 201 W Fisher St., serves 152,450 people in and around Salisbury (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rowan 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 Salisbury’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 3.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Salisbury’s civic life grade?
C+ Salisbury is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns on civic life, #63 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 Salisbury.
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.