Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Rockwall’s library runs 16 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Rockwall County Library serves 105,207 people in and around Rockwall. Last year it lent 265K print books and media and logged 166K visits.
What Rockwall’s library is like
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 74% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 57% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Programs lean toward adults
67% of the 1,655 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 398 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Rockwall County Library spends $15 per resident, less than 91% of similar-size libraries (typical: $36). 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; Rockwall County Library serves 105,207 people in and around Rockwall, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Rockwall’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Rockwall is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns, #109 of 539 in Texas. Rockwall is graded on two of the three inputs. Rockwall’s count of community nonprofits holds 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 →
262 community nonprofits are registered in Rockwall
5.1 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 (119 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 19 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.7%
6.7% of Rockwall’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 Rockwall’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Rockwall County Library serves 105,207 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 108 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Rockwall County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
265K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 8 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
Rockwall County Library, 1215 E Yellow Jacket Ln, Rockwall.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Rockwall County Library branch.
New in Rockwall? 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 $2.48 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rockwall cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $1.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.6M 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 52,312 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.
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.
- System-wide. Rockwall County Library serves 105,207 people in and around Rockwall, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Rockwall.
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 Rockwall
Does Rockwall have a public library?
Yes. Rockwall County Library, 1215 E Yellow Jacket Ln, serves 105,207 people in and around Rockwall (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rockwall 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 Rockwall’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 2.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Rockwall’s civic life grade?
B Rockwall is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns on civic life, #109 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 Rockwall.
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.