Photo: Bruce Emmerling · CC BY-SA 4.0Richmond’s library runs 5.2 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Richmond Public Library serves Richmond’s 226,623 residents from 9 locations. Last year it lent 988K books, movies and e-books and logged 532K visits.
What Richmond’s library is like
Programs are almost all for children
81% of the 1,176 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 14 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Open about 65 hours a week
The main library is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 37 items go out. The buildings ↓
Nine places to borrow in Richmond
Richmond Public Library runs nine 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 Richmond’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Richmond is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns, #47 of 88 in Virginia. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #76. Richmond’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
1,480 community nonprofits are registered in Richmond
6.5 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 (367 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 70 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.3%
7.3% of Richmond’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 Richmond’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Richmond Public Library serves 226,623 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 37 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: library cards. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
988K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 372K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
386,159 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 18 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 Richmond last year.
9 places to borrow in Richmond
The Main Library, 101 East Franklin Street, Richmond.
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 Richmond? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Richmond
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.70 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Richmond resident borrows (the library didn’t report its card count for 2024).
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $8.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $15M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $8.8M 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 resident’s month = the library’s yearly loans and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ the 226,623 people it serves ÷ 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond | The Main Library fine-free | 4.4 | 65 | B− |
| Tuckahoe | Municipal Law Library | — | 66 | — unincorporated |
| Meadowbrook | Meadowdale Library | — | 60 | — unincorporated |
| East Highland Park | Fairfield Area Library | — | 70 | — unincorporated |
| Bon Air | Bon Air Library | — | 60 | — unincorporated |
| Montrose | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Manchester | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Bensley | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Lakeside | 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.
- Not reported for 2024: library cards. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 Richmond
Does Richmond have a public library?
Yes. Richmond Public Library, 101 East Franklin Street, serves Richmond’s 226,623 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Richmond 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 Richmond’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 4.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Richmond’s civic life grade?
B− Richmond is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns on civic life, #47 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 Richmond.
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.