Photo: Jlvshistory · CC BY-SA 4.0Marion’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Marion County Library System serves 29,183 people in and around Marion. Last year it lent 27K print books and media and logged 24K visits.
What Marion’s library is like
South Carolina pays a big share
100% of the budget comes from the state, and 0% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Marion County Library System is used less than most libraries its size
Marion County Library System records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Marion County Library System offered 129 programs last year, 4.4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 66% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 80% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. 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; Marion County Library System serves 29,183 people in and around Marion, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Marion’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Marion is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns, #59 of 102 in South Carolina. Marion is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Marion’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($23K–$38K) 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 Marion
3.7 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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
2.2%
2.2% of Marion’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 Marion’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Marion County Library System serves 29,183 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Marion County Library System system. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: spending and funding. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
27K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Marion County Library, 101 East Court Street, Marion.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Marion County Library System branch.
New in Marion? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Marion cardholder borrows.
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 14,478 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Not reported for 2024: spending and funding. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Marion County Library System serves 29,183 people in and around Marion, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Marion.
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 Marion
Does Marion have a public library?
Yes. Marion County Library System, 101 East Court Street, serves 29,183 people in and around Marion (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Marion County Library System 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 Marion’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 0.9 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Marion’s civic life grade?
D Marion is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns on civic life, #59 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 Marion.
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.