Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Waxahachie’s library runs 18 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Nicholas P Sims Library & Lyceum serves Waxahachie’s 47,201 residents. Last year it lent 181K books, movies and e-books and logged 83K visits.
What’s behind Waxahachie’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Waxahachie is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns, #269 of 539 in Texas. Waxahachie’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($64K–$107K) 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 →
204 community nonprofits are registered in Waxahachie
4.5 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 (84 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 11 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.6%
5.6% of Waxahachie’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 Waxahachie’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Nicholas P Sims Library & Lyceum serves 47,201 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 80 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
181K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 62K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.5 times last year, on average.
26,975 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 10 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 Waxahachie last year.
Find it
Nicholas P Sims Library & Lyceum, 515 W Main St., Waxahachie.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Waxahachie? 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 $2.23 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Waxahachie cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.8M 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 16,702 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waxahachie | Nicholas P Sims Library & Lyceum | 3.8 | 39 | C |
| Red Oak | Red Oak Public Library fine-free | 1.7 | 38 | D |
| Midlothian | Midlothian Public Library fine-free | — | 40 | C− |
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 Waxahachie
Does Waxahachie have a public library?
Yes. Nicholas P Sims Library & Lyceum, 515 W Main St., serves Waxahachie’s 47,201 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Nicholas P Sims Library & Lyceum 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 Waxahachie’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 3.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Waxahachie’s civic life grade?
C Waxahachie is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns on civic life, #269 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 Waxahachie.
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.