Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Altoona’s library runs 30 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Altoona Area Public Library serves 57,314 people in and around Altoona. Last year it lent 134K books, movies and e-books and logged 100K visits.
The short version on Altoona’s library
Pennsylvania pays a big share
44% of the budget comes from the state, and 32% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Programs are almost all for children
86% of the 1,699 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 25 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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; Altoona Area Public Library serves 57,314 people in and around Altoona, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Altoona’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Altoona is ahead of 42% of U.S. towns, #465 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Altoona is graded on two of the three inputs. Altoona’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 ($38K–$64K) 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 →
224 community nonprofits are registered in Altoona
5.2 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 (57 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.4%
5.4% of Altoona’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.0% in the typical Pennsylvania 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 Altoona’s residents live; 2022.
About 28 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 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Altoona Area Public Library serves 57,314 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 47 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Altoona Area Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
134K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
24,833 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Altoona Area Public Library, 1600 Fifth Avenue, Altoona.
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 Altoona Area Public Library branch.
New in Altoona? 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 $2.46 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Altoona cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 16,528 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Altoona | Altoona Area Public Library fine-free | — | 55 | C+ |
| Logan Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Newburg | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Eldorado | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Lakemont | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Allegheny Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Greenwood | 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. Altoona Area Public Library serves 57,314 people in and around Altoona, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Altoona.
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 Altoona
Does Altoona have a public library?
Yes. Altoona Area Public Library, 1600 Fifth Avenue, serves 57,314 people in and around Altoona (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Altoona Area 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 Altoona’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 2.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Altoona’s civic life grade?
C+ Altoona is ahead of 42% of U.S. towns on civic life, #465 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. 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 Altoona.
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.