Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 3.0Winnemucca’s library runs 58 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Humboldt County Library serves 17,696 people in and around Winnemucca. Last year it lent 69K books, movies and e-books and logged 56K visits.
The short version on Winnemucca’s library
Twice the programs of a typical library its size
Humboldt County Library ran 1,033 programs last year, about 20 a week. That’s 58 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24. People show up: 18,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 58% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 53% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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; Humboldt County Library serves 17,696 people in and around Winnemucca, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Winnemucca’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Winnemucca is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns, #5 of 16 in Nevada. Winnemucca is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Winnemucca’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
21 community nonprofits are registered in Winnemucca
2.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.1%
12.1% of Winnemucca’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 Winnemucca’s residents live; 2022.
About 9 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Humboldt County Library serves 17,696 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Humboldt County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
69K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
10,219 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Humboldt County Library, 85 East 5th Street, Winnemucca.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Humboldt County Library branch.
New in Winnemucca? 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 $1.17 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Winnemucca cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 7,101 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Humboldt County Library serves 17,696 people in and around Winnemucca, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Winnemucca.
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 Winnemucca
Does Winnemucca have a public library?
Yes. Humboldt County Library, 85 East 5th Street, serves 17,696 people in and around Winnemucca (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Humboldt 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 Winnemucca’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 3.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Winnemucca’s civic life grade?
B Winnemucca is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns on civic life, #5 of 16 in Nevada. 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 Winnemucca.
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.