Photo: Invictus323 · CC BY 4.0Salt Lake City’s library logs 5.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Salt Lake City Public Library System serves Salt Lake City’s 209,593 residents from 8 locations. Last year it lent 2.9M books, movies and e-books and logged 1.1M visits.
The short version on Salt Lake City’s library
Salt Lake City uses its library more than almost any town its size
Salt Lake City Public Library System logs 5.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries serving 100,000+ people, and lends 8.4 print items per resident against a typical 3.2. On both counts it beats 90% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 5.4 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.4, higher than at 96% of similar-size libraries. It’s 39% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Salt Lake City invests in its library
Salt Lake City Public Library System spends $118 per resident a year, about three times the typical $36 for a library its size. All of it comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
A place to get online
Salt Lake City Public Library System logs about 14,193 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 236 public computers. That’s 25 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Eight places to borrow in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City Public Library System runs eight locations, and one card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
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 Salt Lake City’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Salt Lake City is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns, #5 of 106 in Utah. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #21. All three 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 →
845 community nonprofits are registered in Salt Lake City
4.1 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 (125 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 35 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
10.4%
10.4% of Salt Lake City’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.2% in the typical Utah 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 Salt Lake City’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 127 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Salt Lake City Public Library System serves 209,593 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
2.9M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 482K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.6 times last year, on average.
1,133,060 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 33 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 Salt Lake City last year.
8 places to borrow in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City Public Library Main Library, 210 East 400 South, Salt Lake City.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Salt Lake City? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Salt Lake City
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.39 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Salt Lake City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $25M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $59M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $25M budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 132,914 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salt Lake City | Salt Lake City Public Library Main Library fine-free | 13.8 | 60 | A− |
| Millcreek | Millcreek Community Center Library | — | 57 | B− |
| South Salt Lake | Granite Library | — | 58 | B− |
| Magna | Magna Library | — | 58 | D |
| West Valley City | Hunter Library | — | 58 | D |
| North Salt Lake | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Emigration Canyon | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
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 Salt Lake City
Does Salt Lake City have a public library?
Yes. Salt Lake City Public Library System, 210 East 400 South, serves Salt Lake City’s 209,593 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Salt Lake City Public Library System fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Salt Lake City’s library?
It logged 5.1 visits and lent 13.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Salt Lake City’s civic life grade?
A− Salt Lake City is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns on civic life, #5 of 106 in Utah. 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 Salt Lake City.
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.