Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture · CC BY-SA 4.0Rapid City’s library lends 5.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Rapid City Public Library serves Rapid City’s 112,937 residents. Last year it lent 893K books, movies and e-books and logged 291K visits.
What Rapid City’s library is like
The library is a National Register landmark
Rapid City Carnegie Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1981. Today’s library there has 50,000 square feet. The building ↓
Open about 68 hours a week
Rapid City Public Library is open about 68 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 180 items go out. The building ↓
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 Rapid City’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Rapid City is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns, #27 of 31 in South Dakota. Rapid City is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Rapid City’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($53K–$89K) 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 →
282 community nonprofits are registered in Rapid City
3.6 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 (64 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 11 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.0%
6.0% of Rapid City’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.9% in the typical South Dakota 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 Rapid City’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1981
Rapid City Public Library, 610 Quincy Street, Rapid City.
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 Rapid City? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Rapid City Carnegie Library
Rapid City Carnegie Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Feb 17, 1981. It is significant for its education and architecture at the local level.
The Rapid City Carnegie Library is a historic Carnegie library building in Rapid City, South Dakota. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Rapid City Public Library serves 112,937 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 180 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
893K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 163K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.9 times last year, on average.
253,000 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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 Rapid City last year.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.47 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rapid City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $4.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $14M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.1M 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 34,309 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rapid City | Rapid City Public Library fine-free | 7.9 | 68 | C |
| Colonial Pine Hills | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Rapid Valley | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Box Elder | 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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Rapid City
Does Rapid City have a public library?
Yes. Rapid City Public Library, 610 Quincy Street, serves Rapid City’s 112,937 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 68 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rapid City 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 Rapid City’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 7.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Rapid City’s civic life grade?
C Rapid City is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns on civic life, #27 of 31 in South Dakota. 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 Rapid City.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.