Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0Liverpool’s library lends 6.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Liverpool Public Library serves 52,419 people in and around Liverpool. Last year it lent 466K books, movies and e-books and logged 186K visits.
What Liverpool’s library is like
Above typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, Liverpool Public Library is above the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, with three in the top 30%. No single number stands out, and none lags far behind. How it compares ↓
Open about 65 hours a week
The Liverpool branch is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
A well-funded system
Liverpool Public Library spends $82 per resident a year, about twice the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (96%) comes from local taxes. 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; Liverpool Public Library serves 52,419 people in and around Liverpool, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Liverpool’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Liverpool is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns. Liverpool is graded on two of the three inputs. Liverpool’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 ($65K–$109K) 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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Liverpool
4.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.9%
5.9% of Liverpool’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.4% in the typical New York 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 Liverpool’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Liverpool Public Library serves 52,419 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 138 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Liverpool Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
466K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
139,112 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Find it
Liverpool Public Library, 310 Tulip Street, Liverpool.
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 Liverpool Public Library branch.
New in Liverpool? 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 $1.68 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Liverpool cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $7.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.3M 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 33,029 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | Liverpool Public Library fine-free | — | 65 | C+ |
| Galeville | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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. Liverpool Public Library serves 52,419 people in and around Liverpool, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Liverpool.
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 Liverpool
Does Liverpool have a public library?
Yes. Liverpool Public Library, 310 Tulip Street, serves 52,419 people in and around Liverpool (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Liverpool 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 Liverpool’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 8.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Liverpool’s civic life grade?
C+ Liverpool is ahead of 43% 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 Liverpool.
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.