Photo: Canadian2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0Pleasant Hills’ library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Pleasant Hills Public Library serves Pleasant Hills’s 8,504 residents. Last year it lent 124K books, movies and e-books and logged 43K visits.
What Pleasant Hills’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 55% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 96% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 33 items per child in Pleasant Hills last year. Kids & programs ↓
Pleasant Hills is a town of borrowers
Pleasant Hills Public Library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 95% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Top 10% in Pennsylvania for kids’ borrowing
Pleasant Hills ranks #10 of 107 Pennsylvania towns with a library of their own for children’s items borrowed per child. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.7 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 86% of similar-size libraries. It’s 18% of all loans. 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.
What’s behind Pleasant Hills’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Pleasant Hills is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns, #568 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Library visits hold 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 →
23 community nonprofits are registered in Pleasant Hills
2.8 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.6%
5.6% of Pleasant Hills’ 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 Pleasant Hills’ residents live; 2022.
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 Pleasant Hills last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Pleasant Hills Public Library serves 8,504 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 48 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
124K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 68K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 times last year, on average.
22,710 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Pleasant Hills Public Library, 302 Old Clairton Rd, Pittsburgh.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Pleasant Hills? 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 $4.84 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pleasant Hills cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $392K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $392K 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 5,981 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Pleasant Hills borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant Hills | Pleasant Hills Public Library fine-free | 14.6 | 50 | C |
| Jefferson Hills | Jefferson Hills Public Library fine-free | 5.9 | 44 | C− |
| Baldwin | Baldwin Borough Public Library fine-free | 3.7 | 53 | C− |
| West Mifflin | None of its own | — | — | C− |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Pleasant Hills Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Pleasant Hills
Does Pleasant Hills have a public library?
Yes. Pleasant Hills Public Library, 302 Old Clairton Rd, serves Pleasant Hills’ 8,504 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pleasant Hills 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 Pleasant Hills’ library?
It logged 5.0 visits and lent 14.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Pleasant Hills’ civic life grade?
C Pleasant Hills is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns on civic life, #568 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 Pleasant Hills.
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.