Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Downingtown’s library runs 18 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Downingtown Library Company serves 44,546 people in and around Downingtown. Last year it lent 201K books, movies and e-books and logged 112K visits.
The short version on Downingtown’s library
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
33% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 47%. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 69% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 65% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Runs on less money than most
Downingtown Library Company spends $10 per resident, less than 95% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). 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; Downingtown Library Company serves 44,546 people in and around Downingtown, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Downingtown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Downingtown is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns, #239 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Downingtown is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Downingtown’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 →
25 community nonprofits are registered in Downingtown
3.0 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.0%
10.0% of Downingtown’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 Downingtown’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Downingtown Library Company serves 44,546 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 69 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Downingtown Library Company system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
201K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
44,631 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 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
Downingtown Library Company, 122 Wallace Ave, Downingtown.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Downingtown Library Company branch.
New in Downingtown? 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 $6.54 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Downingtown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $452K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $452K 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 12,021 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downingtown | Downingtown Library Company | — | 56 | B |
| East Caln Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Caln Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| West Bradford Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
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. Downingtown Library Company serves 44,546 people in and around Downingtown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Downingtown.
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 Downingtown
Does Downingtown have a public library?
Yes. Downingtown Library Company, 122 Wallace Ave, serves 44,546 people in and around Downingtown (the survey’s count) and is open about 56 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Downingtown Library Company 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 Downingtown’s library?
It logged 2.5 visits and lent 4.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Downingtown’s civic life grade?
B Downingtown is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns on civic life, #239 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 Downingtown.
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.