Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Snyder’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Scurry County Library serves 16,212 people in and around Snyder. Last year it lent 37K books, movies and e-books and logged 21K visits.
The short version on Snyder’s library
Scurry County Library is used less than most libraries its size
Scurry County Library records 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 1.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $23 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 73% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 63% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. What people borrow ↓
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; Scurry County Library serves 16,212 people in and around Snyder, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Snyder’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Snyder is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns, #228 of 539 in Texas. Snyder is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Snyder’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($43K–$72K) 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 →
38 community nonprofits are registered in Snyder
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 (15 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.7%
6.7% of Snyder’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 Snyder’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Scurry County Library serves 16,212 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Scurry County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
37K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
9,642 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 4 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
Scurry County Library, 1916 23rd St., Snyder.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Scurry County Library branch.
New in Snyder? 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 $1.69 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Snyder cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $378K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $641K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $378K 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 7,326 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Scurry County Library serves 16,212 people in and around Snyder, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Snyder.
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 Snyder
Does Snyder have a public library?
Yes. Scurry County Library, 1916 23rd St., serves 16,212 people in and around Snyder (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Scurry 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 Snyder’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Snyder’s civic life grade?
C Snyder is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns on civic life, #228 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 Snyder.
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.