Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Vidor’s library logs 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Vidor Public Library serves Vidor’s 9,738 residents. Last year it lent 26K books, movies and e-books and logged 4,917 visits.
What Vidor’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, Vidor Public Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on five. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Vidor Public Library offered 39 programs last year, 4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. 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 Vidor’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Vidor is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns, #191 of 539 in Texas. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($47K–$78K) 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 →
28 community nonprofits are registered in Vidor
2.9 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 (17 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.
17.8%
17.8% of Vidor’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 Vidor’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Vidor Public Library serves 9,738 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
26K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 35K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
4,588 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
39 programs a year
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 Vidor last year.
Find it
Vidor Public Library, 440 E Bolivar St., Vidor.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Vidor? 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 $1.51 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Vidor cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $265K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $401K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $265K 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 3,905 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.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vidor | Vidor Public Library | 2.7 | 45 | C+ |
| Rose City | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Mauriceville | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Vidor Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Vidor
Does Vidor have a public library?
Yes. Vidor Public Library, 440 E Bolivar St., serves Vidor’s 9,738 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Vidor 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 Vidor’s library?
It logged 0.5 visits and lent 2.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Vidor’s civic life grade?
C+ Vidor is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life, #191 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 Vidor.
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.