Kennedy Street School · Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Anderson’s library logs 1.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Anderson County Library serves 203,718 people in and around Anderson from 2 locations. Last year it lent 777K books, movies and e-books and logged 333K visits.
What stands out about Anderson County Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Anderson’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Anderson is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns, #39 of 102 in South Carolina. Anderson is graded on two of the three inputs. Anderson’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 ($35K–$59K) 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 →
134 community nonprofits are registered in Anderson
4.5 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 (68 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.5%
4.5% of Anderson’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.4% in the typical South Carolina 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 Anderson’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Anderson County Library serves 203,718 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 37 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Anderson County Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
777K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
304,722 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 15 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.
2 places to borrow in Anderson
Anderson County Library, 300 N Mcduffie Street, Anderson.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Anderson County Library branch.
New in Anderson? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Anderson County Library branches in Anderson
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.74 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Anderson cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $6.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $12M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6.8M 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 114,499 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson | Anderson County Library fine-free | — | 38 | C |
| Northlake | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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. Anderson County Library serves 203,718 people in and around Anderson, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Anderson.
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 Anderson
Does Anderson have a public library?
Yes. Anderson County Library, 300 N Mcduffie Street, serves 203,718 people in and around Anderson (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Anderson County 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 Anderson’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 3.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Anderson’s civic life grade?
C Anderson is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns on civic life, #39 of 102 in South Carolina. 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 Anderson.
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.