Fort Stockton Historic District · Photo: Pi3.124 · CC BY-SA 4.0Fort Stockton’s library logs 3.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Fort Stockton Public Library serves 10,416 people in and around Fort Stockton. Last year it lent 32K books, movies and e-books and logged 41K visits.
What Fort Stockton’s library is like
More library cards than residents
10,658 cards for 10,416 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
Most programs are for young children
67% of the 131 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 29 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 3% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 95% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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; Fort Stockton Public Library serves 10,416 people in and around Fort Stockton, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Fort Stockton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Fort Stockton is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns, #262 of 539 in Texas. Fort Stockton is graded on two of the three inputs. Fort Stockton’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 ($64K–$106K) 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 →
41 community nonprofits are registered in Fort Stockton
5.0 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 (14 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
2.4%
2.4% of Fort Stockton’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 Fort Stockton’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Fort Stockton Public Library serves 10,416 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Fort Stockton Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
32K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
896 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, 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
Fort Stockton Public Library, 500 N Water St., Fort Stockton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Fort Stockton Public Library branch.
New in Fort Stockton? 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 $1.03 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fort Stockton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $502K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $517K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $502K 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 10,658 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Fort Stockton Public Library serves 10,416 people in and around Fort Stockton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Fort Stockton.
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 Fort Stockton
Does Fort Stockton have a public library?
Yes. Fort Stockton Public Library, 500 N Water St., serves 10,416 people in and around Fort Stockton (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fort Stockton 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 Fort Stockton’s library?
It logged 3.9 visits and lent 3.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Fort Stockton’s civic life grade?
C Fort Stockton is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns on civic life, #262 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 Fort Stockton.
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.