Photo: Reservoirhill at English Wikipedia · Public domainPonca City’s library lends 2.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Ponca City Library serves Ponca City’s 24,306 residents. Last year it lent 107K books, movies and e-books and logged 81K visits.
What stands out about Ponca City’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Ponca City’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Ponca City is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns, #85 of 128 in Oklahoma. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Ponca City’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 →
80 community nonprofits are registered in Ponca City
3.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (26 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.0%
8.0% of Ponca City’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.7% in the typical Oklahoma 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 Ponca City’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Ponca City Library serves 24,306 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
107K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 73K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
36,148 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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 Ponca City last year.
Find it
Ponca City Library, 515 East Grand, Ponca City.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Ponca City? 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 $1.51 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ponca City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 9,339 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 Ponca City
Does Ponca City have a public library?
Yes. Ponca City Library, 515 East Grand, serves Ponca City’s 24,306 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 69 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ponca City 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 Ponca City’s library?
It logged 3.3 visits and lent 4.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Ponca City’s civic life grade?
B− Ponca City is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns on civic life, #85 of 128 in Oklahoma. 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 Ponca City.
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.