Photo: Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK · CC BY 2.0Santa Fe’s library logs 5.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Santa Fe Public Library serves Santa Fe’s 87,505 residents from 3 locations. Last year it lent 835K books, movies and e-books and logged 459K visits.
What Santa Fe’s library is like
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.5 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 91% of similar-size libraries. It’s 37% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
People come to Santa Fe Public Library a lot
Santa Fe Public Library logs 5.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 89% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 6 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
A place to get online
Santa Fe Public Library logs about 3,867 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 31 public computers. That’s 16 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
83% of Santa Fe carry a library card
72,819 cards for 87,505 people, or 83%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
Three places to borrow in Santa Fe
Santa Fe Public Library runs three locations, and 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.
What’s behind Santa Fe’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Santa Fe is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns, #5 of 46 in New Mexico. Santa Fe’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
673 community nonprofits are registered in Santa Fe
7.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (108 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 36 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.9%
6.9% of Santa Fe’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.2% in the typical New Mexico 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 Santa Fe’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 99 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Santa Fe Public Library serves 87,505 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
835K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 245K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.1 times last year, on average.
309,328 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, 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 Santa Fe last year.
3 places to borrow in Santa Fe
Santa Fe Public Library, 145 Washington Avenue, Santa Fe.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Santa Fe? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Santa Fe
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.18 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Santa Fe cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $18M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.6M 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 72,819 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Fe | Santa Fe Public Library fine-free | 9.5 | 54 | A− |
| La Cienega | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Tres Arroyos | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Tano Road | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Santa Fe Foothills | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Conejo | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Tesuque | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Hyde Park | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Valle Vista | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 Santa Fe
Does Santa Fe have a public library?
Yes. Santa Fe Public Library, 145 Washington Avenue, serves Santa Fe’s 87,505 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Santa Fe 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 Santa Fe’s library?
It logged 5.2 visits and lent 9.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Santa Fe’s civic life grade?
A− Santa Fe is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns on civic life, #5 of 46 in New Mexico. 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 Santa Fe.
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.