Friendswood’s library runs 28 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Friendswood Public Library serves Friendswood’s 45,210 residents. Last year it lent 333K books, movies and e-books and logged 173K visits.
What Friendswood’s library is like
More library cards than residents
67,530 cards for 45,210 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
Programs draw a crowd
37,000 people came to the library’s 1,264 programs last year: 0.8 per resident, against a typical 0.3, more than at 91% of similar-size libraries. 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.
What’s behind Friendswood’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Friendswood is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns, #123 of 539 in Texas. Friendswood’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 →
213 community nonprofits are registered in Friendswood
5.2 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 (41 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.1%
6.1% of Friendswood’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 Friendswood’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Friendswood Public Library serves 45,210 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 116 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
333K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 96K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.5 times last year, on average.
93,081 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, 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 Friendswood last year.
Find it
Friendswood Public Library, 416 S Friendswood Dr, Friendswood.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Friendswood? 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 $3.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Friendswood cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.6M 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 67,530 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Friendswood borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friendswood | Friendswood Public Library | 7.4 | 55 | B− |
| League City | Helen Hall Library fine-free | 3.8 | 60 | C− |
| Houston | Houston Public Library fine-free | 2.8 | 44 | D |
| Pearland | Tom Reid Library | — | 56 | C |
| Alvin | Alvin Library | — | 48 | C |
| Webster | None of its own | — | — | D |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
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 Friendswood
Does Friendswood have a public library?
Yes. Friendswood Public Library, 416 S Friendswood Dr, serves Friendswood’s 45,210 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Friendswood 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 Friendswood’s library?
It logged 3.8 visits and lent 7.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Friendswood’s civic life grade?
B− Friendswood is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns on civic life, #123 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 Friendswood.
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.