Photo: Ele boz · CC BY-SA 3.0Phoenixville’s library runs 22 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Phoenixville Public Library serves 41,643 people in and around Phoenixville. Last year it lent 276K books, movies and e-books and logged 97K visits.
Phoenixville’s library, in brief
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
32% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 59%. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 62% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 68% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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; Phoenixville Public Library serves 41,643 people in and around Phoenixville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Phoenixville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Phoenixville is ahead of 41% of U.S. towns, #474 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Phoenixville is graded on two of the three inputs. Phoenixville’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 ($77K–$128K) 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 →
72 community nonprofits are registered in Phoenixville
3.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.0%
7.0% of Phoenixville’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 Phoenixville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Phoenixville Public Library serves 41,643 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 108 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Phoenixville Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
276K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
101,596 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
Phoenixville Public Library, 183 Second Ave, Phoenixville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Phoenixville Public Library branch.
New in Phoenixville? 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 $2.97 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Phoenixville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.4M 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 15,493 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenixville | Phoenixville Public Library | — | 49 | C+ |
| Upper Providence Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Schuylkill Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Mont Clare | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| East Pikeland 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. Phoenixville Public Library serves 41,643 people in and around Phoenixville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Phoenixville.
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 Phoenixville
Does Phoenixville have a public library?
Yes. Phoenixville Public Library, 183 Second Ave, serves 41,643 people in and around Phoenixville (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Phoenixville 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 Phoenixville’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 6.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Phoenixville’s civic life grade?
C+ Phoenixville is ahead of 41% of U.S. towns on civic life, #474 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 Phoenixville.
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.