Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Amargosa Valley’s library logs 5.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Amargosa Valley Library District serves 1,836 people in and around Amargosa Valley. Last year it lent 5,492 books, movies and e-books and logged 9,325 visits.
What Amargosa Valley’s library is like
Most programs are for young children
72% of the 79 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 8 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
A well-funded system
Amargosa Valley Library District spends $113 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 for a library its size. 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; Amargosa Valley Library District serves 1,836 people in and around Amargosa Valley, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Amargosa Valley’s civic life grade
Amargosa Valley isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Amargosa Valley Library District, so there is no town figure for visits.
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 →
Volunteering in Amargosa Valley
Amargosa Valley is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
2.1%
2.1% of Amargosa Valley’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.0% in the typical Nevada 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 Amargosa Valley’s residents live; 2022.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Amargosa Valley cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $208K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $101K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $208K 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 776 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Amargosa Valley Library District serves 1,836 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Amargosa Valley Library District system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
5,492 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
582 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Amargosa Valley Library District, 1660 East Amargosa Farm Road, Amargosa Valley.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Amargosa Valley Library District branch.
New in Amargosa Valley? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Amargosa Valley Library District serves 1,836 people in and around Amargosa Valley, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Amargosa Valley.
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 Amargosa Valley
Does Amargosa Valley have a public library?
Yes. Amargosa Valley Library District, 1660 East Amargosa Farm Road, serves 1,836 people in and around Amargosa Valley (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Amargosa Valley Library District 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 Amargosa Valley’s library?
It logged 5.1 visits and lent 3.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Amargosa Valley’s civic life grade?
Amargosa Valley isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Amargosa Valley Library District, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Amargosa Valley.
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.