Photo: Connor401 · CC BY-SA 3.0York’s library logs 1.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
York County Library System serves 282,090 people in and around York. Last year it lent 1.5M books, movies and e-books and logged 426K visits.
What stands out about York Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind York’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, York is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns, #84 of 102 in South Carolina. York is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; York’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($42K–$70K) 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 →
18 community nonprofits are registered in York
2.1 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 (10 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.
4.7%
4.7% of York’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 York’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
York County Library System serves 282,090 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 117 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole York County Library System system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1.5M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
457,395 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 21 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
York Public Library, 21 East Liberty Street, York.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every York County Library System branch.
New in York? 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 $2.54 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average York cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $9.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $23M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $9.1M 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 191,371 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. York County Library System serves 282,090 people in and around York, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just York.
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 York
Does York have a public library?
Yes. York County Library System, 21 East Liberty Street, serves 282,090 people in and around York (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is York County Library System 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 York’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 5.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is York’s civic life grade?
D York is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns on civic life, #84 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 York.
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.