I.M. and Margaret Newman House · Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Sweetwater’s library runs 29 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
County-City Library serves 14,306 people in and around Sweetwater. Last year it lent 20K books, movies and e-books and logged 25K visits.
What stands out about County-City Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Sweetwater’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Sweetwater is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns, #318 of 539 in Texas. Sweetwater is graded on two of the three inputs. Sweetwater’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
County-City Library spends $22 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($34K–$56K) 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 →
40 community nonprofits are registered in Sweetwater
3.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.1%
4.1% of Sweetwater’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 Sweetwater’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.
County-City Library serves 14,306 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole County-City Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
20K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
4,405 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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
County-City Library, 206 Elm St., Sweetwater.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every County-City Library branch.
New in Sweetwater? 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 $1.17 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sweetwater cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $311K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $363K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $311K 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 11,280 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. County-City Library serves 14,306 people in and around Sweetwater, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Sweetwater.
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 Sweetwater
Does Sweetwater have a public library?
Yes. County-City Library, 206 Elm St., serves 14,306 people in and around Sweetwater (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is County-City 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 Sweetwater’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 1.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Sweetwater’s civic life grade?
C− Sweetwater is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns on civic life, #318 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 Sweetwater.
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.