Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domainBoerne’s library logs 5.9 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Patrick Heath Public Library serves 28,927 people in and around Boerne. Last year it lent 297K books, movies and e-books and logged 171K visits.
What Boerne’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 66% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 92% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Visits are the system’s strong suit
Patrick Heath Public Library logs 5.9 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 92% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 8.2 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
74% of the people it serves carry a library card
21,373 cards for 28,927 people, or 74%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. 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; Patrick Heath Public Library serves 28,927 people in and around Boerne, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Boerne’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Boerne is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns, #139 of 539 in Texas. Boerne is graded on two of the three inputs. Boerne’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
101 community nonprofits are registered in Boerne
4.9 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 (23 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.3%
6.3% of Boerne’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 Boerne’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 109 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Patrick Heath Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Patrick Heath Public Library serves 28,927 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
297K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
58,622 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
Patrick Heath Public Library, 451 N Main St. Bldg 100, Boerne.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Patrick Heath Public Library branch.
New in Boerne? 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 $2.42 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Boerne cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.9M 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 21,373 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Patrick Heath Public Library serves 28,927 people in and around Boerne, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Boerne.
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 Boerne
Does Boerne have a public library?
Yes. Patrick Heath Public Library, 451 N Main St. Bldg 100, serves 28,927 people in and around Boerne (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Patrick Heath 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 Boerne’s library?
It logged 5.9 visits and lent 10.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Boerne’s civic life grade?
B− Boerne is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns on civic life, #139 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 Boerne.
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.