Photo: Ser Amantio di Nicolao · CC BY-SA 3.0Falls Church’s library lends 21 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Mary Riley Styles Public Library serves Falls Church’s 14,614 residents. Last year it lent 450K books, movies and e-books and logged 168K visits.
What Falls Church’s library is like
Falls Church borrows more library books per person than any town in Virginia
Out of 24 Virginia towns with a library of their own, Falls Church comes first for items borrowed per resident. It’s also #1 for kids’ borrowing and #2 for library use. How it compares ↓
Falls Church uses its library more than almost any town its size
Mary Riley Styles Public Library logs 11 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, and lends 21 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 98% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 56% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 99% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 49 items per child in Falls Church last year. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 9.6 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 99% of similar-size libraries. It’s 31% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Falls Church invests in its library
Mary Riley Styles Public Library spends $163 per resident a year, about four times the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (91%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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 Falls Church’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Falls Church is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns, #8 of 88 in Virginia. Library visits hold 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 →
140 community nonprofits are registered in Falls Church
9.5 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 (15 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 12 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.5%
7.5% of Falls Church’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 Falls Church’s residents live; 2022.
About 4 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 Falls Church last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Mary Riley Styles Public Library serves 14,614 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 149 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
450K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 71K books and other items on the shelves went out about 4.4 times last year, on average.
139,791 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Mary Riley Styles Public Library, 120 North Virginia Avenue, Falls Church.
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 Falls Church? 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 $2.94 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Falls Church cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $2.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.4M 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 11,938 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falls Church | Mary Riley Styles Public Library fine-free | 30.8 | 58 | A |
| West Falls Church | Thomas Jefferson Community Library fine-free | — | 54 | — unincorporated |
| Arlington | Central Library fine-free | — | 61 | B+ |
| McLean | Dolley Madison Community Library fine-free | — | 54 | — unincorporated |
| Idylwood | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Seven Corners | 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 Falls Church
Does Falls Church have a public library?
Yes. Mary Riley Styles Public Library, 120 North Virginia Avenue, serves Falls Church’s 14,614 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mary Riley Styles 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 Falls Church’s library?
It logged 11.5 visits and lent 30.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Falls Church’s civic life grade?
A Falls Church is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns on civic life, #8 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 Falls Church.
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.