Photo: Ben Schumin · CC BY-SA 3.0Alexandria’s library logs 3.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Alexandria Library serves Alexandria’s 158,675 residents from 5 locations. Last year it lent 1.3M books, movies and e-books and logged 525K visits.
The short version on Alexandria’s library
Programs draw a crowd
77,000 people came to the library’s 2,253 programs last year: 0.5 per resident, against a typical 0.2, more than at 90% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Five places to borrow in Alexandria
Alexandria’s library system runs five 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 Alexandria’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Alexandria is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns, #45 of 88 in Virginia. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #63. Alexandria’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
862 community nonprofits are registered in Alexandria
5.5 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 (137 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 185 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.2%
7.2% of Alexandria’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.9% in the typical Virginia 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 Alexandria’s residents live; 2022.
About 21 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 Alexandria last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Alexandria Library serves 158,675 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 74 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1.3M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 311K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.6 times last year, on average.
435,174 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
5 places to borrow in Alexandria
Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library, 5005 Duke Street, Alexandria.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Alexandria? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Alexandria
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.04 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Alexandria cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $9.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $19M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $9.5M 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 38,152 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library fine-free | 9.5 | 64 | A |
| Alexandria | Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library fine-free | 7.9 | 58 | B |
| Arlington | Central Library fine-free | — | 61 | B+ |
| Bailey's Crossroads | Woodrow Wilson Community Library fine-free | — | 54 | — unincorporated |
| Rose Hill | John Marshall Community Library fine-free | — | 54 | — unincorporated |
| Lincolnia | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Huntington | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Belle Haven | 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.
- 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 Alexandria
Does Alexandria have a public library?
Yes. Alexandria Library, 5005 Duke Street, serves Alexandria’s 158,675 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Alexandria Library 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 Alexandria’s library?
It logged 3.3 visits and lent 7.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Alexandria’s civic life grade?
B Alexandria is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns on civic life, #45 of 88 in Virginia. 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 Alexandria.
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.