Photo: ajay_suresh · CC BY 2.0Fairfax’s library lends 7.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Fairfax County Public Library serves 1,169,440 people in and around Fairfax. Last year it lent 12M books, movies and e-books and logged 3.2M visits.
What Fairfax’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 62% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 89% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 16% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 41% for its size. How it compares ↓
Open about 65 hours a week
The Fairfax branch is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
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; Fairfax County Public Library serves 1,169,440 people in and around Fairfax, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Fairfax’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Fairfax is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns, #36 of 88 in Virginia. Fairfax is graded on two of the three inputs. Fairfax’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 →
158 community nonprofits are registered in Fairfax
6.3 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 (28 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 15 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.6%
6.6% of Fairfax’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 Fairfax’s residents live; 2022.
About 121 kids’ programs 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Fairfax County Public Library serves 1,169,440 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 177 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Fairfax County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
12M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,759,625 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Fairfax City Regional Library, 3915 Chain Bridge Rd., Fairfax.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Fairfax County Public Library branch.
New in Fairfax? 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 $3.69 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fairfax cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $48M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $175M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $48M 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 189,423 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfax | Fairfax City Regional Library fine-free | — | 65 | B |
| Oakton | Oakton Community Library fine-free | — | 54 | — unincorporated |
| Fair Oaks | Access Services fine-free | — | 45 | — unincorporated |
| George Mason | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Mantua | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Long Branch | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Merrifield | 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.
- System-wide. Fairfax County Public Library serves 1,169,440 people in and around Fairfax, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Fairfax.
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 Fairfax
Does Fairfax have a public library?
Yes. Fairfax County Public Library, 3915 Chain Bridge Rd., serves 1,169,440 people in and around Fairfax (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fairfax County Public 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 Fairfax’s library?
It logged 2.7 visits and lent 10.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Fairfax’s civic life grade?
B Fairfax is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns on civic life, #36 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 Fairfax.
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.