Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Brady’s library runs 13 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Mcculloch County Library serves 7,452 people in and around Brady. Last year it lent 21K books, movies and e-books and logged 14K visits.
What Brady’s library is like
Nearly everyone the system serves has a card
7,138 cards for 7,452 people, or 96%. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
Most programs are for young children
73% of the 94 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 50 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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; Mcculloch County Library serves 7,452 people in and around Brady, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Brady’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Brady is ahead of 68% of U.S. towns, #77 of 539 in Texas. Brady is graded on two of the three inputs. Brady’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 →
43 community nonprofits are registered in Brady
8.2 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 (15 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.3%
6.3% of Brady’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 Brady’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Mcculloch County Library serves 7,452 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Mcculloch County Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
21K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,022 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Mcculloch County Library, 401 E Commerce St., Brady.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Mcculloch County Library branch.
New in Brady? 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 $1.73 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Brady cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $194K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $336K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $194K 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 7,138 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Mcculloch County Library serves 7,452 people in and around Brady, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Brady.
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 Brady
Does Brady have a public library?
Yes. Mcculloch County Library, 401 E Commerce St., serves 7,452 people in and around Brady (the survey’s count) and is open about 34 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mcculloch County 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 Brady’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 2.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Brady’s civic life grade?
B+ Brady is ahead of 68% of U.S. towns on civic life, #77 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 Brady.
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.