Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY 3.0Tahoka’s library lends 2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
City County Library serves 5,761 people in and around Tahoka. Last year it lent 118K books, movies and e-books and logged 11K visits.
What stands out about City County Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Tahoka’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Tahoka is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns, #41 of 539 in Texas. Tahoka is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Tahoka
4.1 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.5%
10.5% of Tahoka’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 Tahoka’s residents live; 2022.
90% of borrowing is digital
118K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
105,984 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
City County Library serves 5,761 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 54 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole City County Library system. The library’s own count.
About 1 kids’ program 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
City County Library, 1717 Main St., Tahoka.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every City County Library branch.
New in Tahoka? 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 $12.05 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Tahoka cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $152K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $152K 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 1,951 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. City County Library serves 5,761 people in and around Tahoka, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Tahoka.
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 Tahoka
Does Tahoka have a public library?
Yes. City County Library, 1717 Main St., serves 5,761 people in and around Tahoka (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is City 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 Tahoka’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 20.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Tahoka’s civic life grade?
A− Tahoka is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns on civic life, #41 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 Tahoka.
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.