Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Mount Vernon’s library lends 2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Franklin County Library serves 10,735 people in and around Mount Vernon. Last year it lent 28K books, movies and e-books and logged 37K visits.
What’s behind Mount Vernon’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mount Vernon is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns, #46 of 539 in Texas. Mount Vernon is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Mount Vernon’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Mount Vernon
5.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.2%
8.2% of Mount Vernon’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 Mount Vernon’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Franklin County Library serves 10,735 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Franklin County Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
28K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,988 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
Franklin County Library, 100 E Main St., Mt Vernon.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Franklin County Library branch.
New in Mount Vernon? 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 $1.78 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mount Vernon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $260K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $464K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $260K 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 5,566 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Franklin County Library serves 10,735 people in and around Mount Vernon, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Mount Vernon.
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 Mount Vernon
Does Mount Vernon have a public library?
Yes. Franklin County Library, 100 E Main St., serves 10,735 people in and around Mount Vernon (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Franklin County 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 Mount Vernon’s library?
It logged 3.5 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Mount Vernon’s civic life grade?
A− Mount Vernon is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns on civic life, #46 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 Mount Vernon.
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.