Photo: Carl Wycoff from Nevada, USA · CC BY 2.0Covington’s library lends 2.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Tipton County Public Library serves 34,728 people in and around Covington. Last year it lent 143K books, movies and e-books and logged 82K visits.
What stands out about Tipton County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Covington’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Covington is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns, #70 of 150 in Tennessee. Covington is graded on two of the three inputs. Covington’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 ($32K–$53K) 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 →
43 community nonprofits are registered in Covington
5.0 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 (20 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.2%
4.2% of Covington’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.7% in the typical Tennessee 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 Covington’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Tipton County Public Library serves 34,728 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 46 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Tipton County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
143K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
44,485 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, 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
Tipton County Public Library, 3149 Highway 51 S Bldg.C, Covington.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Tipton County Public Library branch.
New in Covington? 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 $6.20 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Covington cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $352K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $352K budget.
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 23,149 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Tipton County Public Library serves 34,728 people in and around Covington, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Covington.
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 Covington
Does Covington have a public library?
Yes. Tipton County Public Library, 3149 Highway 51 S Bldg.C, serves 34,728 people in and around Covington (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Tipton County Public Library 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 Covington’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 4.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Covington’s civic life grade?
C Covington is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns on civic life, #70 of 150 in Tennessee. 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 Covington.
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.