Rowlett’s library lends 2.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Rowlett Public Library serves Rowlett’s 66,813 residents. Last year it lent 238K books, movies and e-books and logged 131K visits.
What Rowlett’s library is like
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 67% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 50% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Programs lean toward adults
66% of the 747 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 221 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.
What’s behind Rowlett’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Rowlett is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns, #358 of 539 in Texas. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Rowlett’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Rowlett Public Library spends $20 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($84K–$140K) 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 →
175 community nonprofits are registered in Rowlett
2.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (74 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 12 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.8%
5.8% of Rowlett’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 Rowlett’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Rowlett Public Library serves 66,813 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 78 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
238K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 72K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.3 times last year, on average.
70,398 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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 Rowlett last year.
Find it
Rowlett Public Library, 3900 Main St. Suite 200, Rowlett.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Rowlett? 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 $2.67 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rowlett cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.3M 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 14,088 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Rowlett ranks 2nd of 3 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 Rowlett
Does Rowlett have a public library?
Yes. Rowlett Public Library, 3900 Main St. Suite 200, serves Rowlett’s 66,813 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rowlett 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 Rowlett’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 3.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Rowlett’s civic life grade?
C− Rowlett is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns on civic life, #358 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 Rowlett.
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.