Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Fairfield’s library lends 1.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Fairfield Library serves Fairfield’s 9,335 residents. Last year it lent 18K books, movies and e-books and logged 23K visits.
What Fairfield’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
51% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 49%. What your card is worth ↓
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, Fairfield Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on four. How it compares ↓
Programs lean toward adults
51% of the 257 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 124 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Fairfield Library spends $11 per resident, less than 95% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). What your card is worth ↓
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 Fairfield’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Fairfield is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns, #156 of 539 in Texas. Fairfield is graded on two of the three inputs. Fairfield’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 →
20 community nonprofits are registered in Fairfield
6.9 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.6%
4.6% of Fairfield’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 Fairfield’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Fairfield Library serves 9,335 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
18K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 23K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
3,232 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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 Fairfield last year.
Find it
Fairfield Library, 350 W Main St., Fairfield.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Fairfield? 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 $3.12 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fairfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $99K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $309K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $99K 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 2,684 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 Fairfield
Does Fairfield have a public library?
Yes. Fairfield Library, 350 W Main St., serves Fairfield’s 9,335 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 31 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fairfield 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 Fairfield’s library?
It logged 2.5 visits and lent 1.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Fairfield’s civic life grade?
B− Fairfield is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns on civic life, #156 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 Fairfield.
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.