Photo: Lakeviews · CC BY-SA 4.0Little Elm’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Little Elm Public Library serves Little Elm’s 80,512 residents. Last year it lent 75K print books and media and logged 95K visits.
What Little Elm’s library is like
Little Elm Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Little Elm Public Library records 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $9 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 72% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 78% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. What people borrow ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 14% of the people Little Elm Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Little Elm Public Library spends $9 per resident, less than 97% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). 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 Little Elm’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Little Elm is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns, #133 of 539 in Texas. Little Elm is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Little Elm’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
187 community nonprofits are registered in Little Elm
3.4 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 (52 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 17 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.2%
8.2% of Little Elm’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 Little Elm’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Little Elm Public Library serves 80,512 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 31 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
75K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 39K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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 Little Elm last year.
Find it
Little Elm Public Library, 100 W Eldorado Pkwy, Little Elm.
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 Little Elm? 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 $1.58 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Little Elm cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $728K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $728K 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 11,360 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Little Elm ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frisco | Frisco Public Library fine-free | 15.2 | 71 | B+ |
| The Colony | The Colony Public Library fine-free | 2.1 | 47 | C− |
| Little Elm | Little Elm Public Library fine-free | 0.9 | 47 | B− |
| Aubrey | Aubrey Area Library | — | 40 | C |
| Prosper | Prosper Community Library fine-free | — | 49 | B |
| Providence Village | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Savannah | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Oak Point | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Lakewood Village | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Little Elm
Does Little Elm have a public library?
Yes. Little Elm Public Library, 100 W Eldorado Pkwy, serves Little Elm’s 80,512 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Little Elm Public Library 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 Little Elm’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 0.9 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Little Elm’s civic life grade?
B− Little Elm is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns on civic life, #133 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 Little Elm.
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.