Medina Dam · Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Lakehills’ library logs 4.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Lakehills Area Library serves 7,494 people in and around Lakehills. Last year it lent 29K books, movies and e-books and logged 31K visits.
Lakehills’s library, in brief
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
54% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 45%. What your card is worth ↓
Nearly everyone the system serves has a card
6,855 cards for 7,494 people, or 91%. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
Programs lean toward adults
54% of the 126 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 56 were for children. 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; Lakehills Area Library serves 7,494 people in and around Lakehills, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Lakehills’ civic life grade
On library visits and volunteering, Lakehills is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns, #54 of 539 in Texas. Lakehills is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
Volunteering in Lakehills
Lakehills is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
9.1%
9.1% of Lakehills’ 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 Lakehills’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Lakehills Area Library serves 7,494 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lakehills Area Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
29K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,971 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
Lakehills Area Library, 7200 Fm 1283, Lakehills.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lakehills Area Library branch.
New in Lakehills? 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 $2.11 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lakehills cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $211K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $446K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $211K 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 6,855 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakehills | Lakehills Area Library | — | 42 | B+ |
| Lake Medina Shores | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Lakehills Area Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Lakehills Area Library serves 7,494 people in and around Lakehills, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lakehills.
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 Lakehills
Does Lakehills have a public library?
Yes. Lakehills Area Library, 7200 Fm 1283, serves 7,494 people in and around Lakehills (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lakehills Area 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 Lakehills’ library?
It logged 4.2 visits and lent 3.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Lakehills’ civic life grade?
B+ Lakehills is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns on civic life, #54 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 Lakehills.
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.