Photo: User:Cards84664 · CC BY-SA 4.0Erie’s library lends 4.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Erie County Public Library serves 237,610 people in and around Erie. Last year it lent 1.2M books, movies and e-books and logged 434K visits.
What Erie’s library is like
Few residents carry a card
Only 16% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 41% for its size. How it compares ↓
Pennsylvania pays a big share
24% of the budget comes from the state, and 73% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. 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; Erie County Public Library serves 237,610 people in and around Erie, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Erie’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Erie is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns, #237 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Erie is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Erie’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
416 community nonprofits are registered in Erie
4.4 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 (94 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 12 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.6%
7.6% of Erie’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 Erie’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Erie County Public Library serves 237,610 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 80 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Erie County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
1.2M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
168,996 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 14 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
Erie County Public Library, 160 E Front St., Erie.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Erie County Public Library branch.
New in Erie? 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 $2.35 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Erie cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $7.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $18M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $7.7M 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 36,995 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erie | Erie County Public Library | — | 63 | B |
| Millcreek Township | Millcreek Branch Library | — | 51 | B− |
| Lawrence Park Township | Iroquois Avenue Branch Library | — | 51 | C+ |
| Wesleyville | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Harborcreek Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Northwest Harborcreek | 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. Erie County Public Library serves 237,610 people in and around Erie, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Erie.
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 Erie
Does Erie have a public library?
Yes. Erie County Public Library, 160 E Front St., serves 237,610 people in and around Erie (the survey’s count) and is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Erie County Public 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 Erie’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 4.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Erie’s civic life grade?
B Erie is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns on civic life, #237 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 Erie.
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.