Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Honey Grove’s library runs 257 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Honey Grove Library & Learning Center serves Honey Grove’s 1,771 residents. Last year it lent 13K books, movies and e-books and logged 12K visits.
What Honey Grove’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
96% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 3%. What your card is worth ↓
More library cards than residents
2,300 cards for 1,771 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Honey Grove Library & Learning Center ran 456 programs last year, about 9 a week. That’s 257 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60. People show up: 4,167 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Programs are almost all for children
80% of the 456 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.1 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Honey Grove invests in its library
Honey Grove Library & Learning Center spends $144 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 for a library its size. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Honey Grove’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Honey Grove is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns. Library visits hold 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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Honey Grove
6.0 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.9%
6.9% of Honey Grove’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 Honey Grove’s residents live; 2022.
About 7 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 Honey Grove last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Honey Grove Library & Learning Center serves 1,771 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
13K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 19K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
1,622 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Honey Grove Library & Learning Center, 500 6th St., Honey Grove.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Honey Grove? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Honey Grove cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $255K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $244K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $255K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 2,300 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 Honey Grove
Does Honey Grove have a public library?
Yes. Honey Grove Library & Learning Center, 500 6th St., serves Honey Grove’s 1,771 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 34 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Honey Grove Library & Learning Center fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Honey Grove’s library?
It logged 7.0 visits and lent 7.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Honey Grove’s civic life grade?
A− Honey Grove is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Honey Grove.
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.