Photo: Antony-22 · CC BY-SA 4.0Warrenton’s library runs 11 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Fauquier County Public Library serves 73,291 people in and around Warrenton. Last year it lent 406K books, movies and e-books and logged 159K visits.
What stands out about Fauquier County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Warrenton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Warrenton is ahead of 91% of U.S. towns, #7 of 88 in Virginia. Warrenton is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Warrenton’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
128 community nonprofits are registered in Warrenton
12.6 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 (29 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.5%
8.5% of Warrenton’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 Warrenton’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Fauquier County Public Library serves 73,291 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 45 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Fauquier County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
406K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
115,091 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 9 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.
Find it
Fauquier County Public Library, 11 Winchester Street, Warrenton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Fauquier County Public Library branch.
New in Warrenton? 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 $1.77 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Warrenton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.4M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 10,813 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Fauquier County Public Library serves 73,291 people in and around Warrenton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Warrenton.
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 Warrenton
Does Warrenton have a public library?
Yes. Fauquier County Public Library, 11 Winchester Street, serves 73,291 people in and around Warrenton (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fauquier County Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Warrenton’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 5.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Warrenton’s civic life grade?
A Warrenton is ahead of 91% of U.S. towns on civic life, #7 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 Warrenton.
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.