Photo: Gerry Dincher from Hope Mills, NC · CC BY-SA 2.0Taylorsville’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Alexander County Library serves 36,231 people in and around Taylorsville. Last year it lent 72K books, movies and e-books and logged 45K visits.
Taylorsville’s library, in brief
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, Alexander County Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on five. How it compares ↓
North Carolina pays a big share
23% of the budget comes from the state, and 76% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. 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; Alexander County Library serves 36,231 people in and around Taylorsville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Taylorsville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Taylorsville is ahead of 30% of U.S. towns. Taylorsville is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Taylorsville’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($30K–$49K) 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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Taylorsville
2.3 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.9%
7.9% of Taylorsville’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 Taylorsville’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Alexander County Library serves 36,231 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Alexander County Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
72K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
14,055 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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
Alexander County Library, 77 1st Ave SW, Taylorsville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Alexander County Library branch.
New in Taylorsville? 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 $1.65 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Taylorsville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $691K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $691K 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 6,932 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Alexander County Library serves 36,231 people in and around Taylorsville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Taylorsville.
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 Taylorsville
Does Taylorsville have a public library?
Yes. Alexander County Library, 77 1st Ave SW, serves 36,231 people in and around Taylorsville (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Alexander County 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 Taylorsville’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 2.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Taylorsville’s civic life grade?
C Taylorsville is ahead of 30% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Taylorsville.
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.