Photo: WhisperToMe · Public domainBellaire’s library lends 8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Bellaire City Library serves Bellaire’s 17,016 residents. Last year it lent 165K books, movies and e-books and logged 78K visits.
What Bellaire’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 68% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 92% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 20 items per child in Bellaire last year. Kids & programs ↓
Top 10% in Texas for borrowing
Bellaire ranks #16 of 183 Texas towns with a library of their own for items borrowed per resident. Print borrowing alone runs 8 items per resident, more than at 84% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
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 Bellaire’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Bellaire is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns, #17 of 539 in Texas. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; Bellaire’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
165 community nonprofits are registered in Bellaire
9.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (23 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 10 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.7%
9.7% of Bellaire’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.7% in the typical Texas 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 Bellaire’s residents live; 2022.
About 4 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 Bellaire last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Bellaire City Library serves 17,016 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 70 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
165K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 93K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 time last year, on average.
27,929 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Bellaire City Library, 5111 Jessamine St., Bellaire.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Bellaire? 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 $2.83 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bellaire cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $841K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $841K 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 10,719 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 Bellaire
Does Bellaire have a public library?
Yes. Bellaire City Library, 5111 Jessamine St., serves Bellaire’s 17,016 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bellaire City 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 Bellaire’s library?
It logged 4.6 visits and lent 9.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Bellaire’s civic life grade?
A Bellaire is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns on civic life, #17 of 539 in Texas. 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 Bellaire.
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.