Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Richardson’s library lends 6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Richardson Public Library serves Richardson’s 117,435 residents. Last year it lent 834K books, movies and e-books and logged 233K visits.
What Richardson’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 63% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 85% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 18 items per child in Richardson last year. Kids & programs ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Richardson Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Open about 66 hours a week
Richardson Public Library is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 259 items go out. The building ↓
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 Richardson’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Richardson is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns, #234 of 539 in Texas. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #165. Richardson’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($74K–$123K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
467 community nonprofits are registered in Richardson
3.9 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 (160 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 37 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.8%
6.8% of Richardson’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 Richardson’s residents live; 2022.
About 10 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 Richardson last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Richardson Public Library serves 117,435 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 259 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
834K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 193K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.6 times last year, on average.
131,547 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Richardson Public Library, 2360 Campbell Creek Blvd #500, Richardson.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Richardson? 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 $2.94 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Richardson cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $4.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $12M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.2M 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 44,414 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Richardson ranks 2nd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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 Richardson
Does Richardson have a public library?
Yes. Richardson Public Library, 2360 Campbell Creek Blvd #500, serves Richardson’s 117,435 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Richardson 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 Richardson’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 7.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Richardson’s civic life grade?
C Richardson is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns on civic life, #234 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 Richardson.
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.