Photo: Will Maupin · CC BY-SA 4.0Airway Heights’ library is a branch of Spokane County Library District, which lends more per resident than 54% of systems its size
Airway Heights’s library is the Airway Heights Library, a branch of Spokane County Library District, which serves 312,530 people and lent 2.9M items last year.
What stands out about Airway Heights Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Airway Heights’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Airway Heights is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns, #111 of 152 in Washington. Airway Heights is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Airway Heights’ count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($47K–$79K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
21 community nonprofits are registered in Airway Heights
1.8 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.9%
7.9% of Airway Heights’ Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.7% in the typical Washington 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 Airway Heights’ residents live; 2022.
63% of borrowing is digital
2.9M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,788,264 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Spokane County Library District serves 312,530 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
A year at Spokane County Library District
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Spokane County Library District system. The library’s own count.
About 51 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
Airway Heights Library, 1213 S Lundstrom St., Airway Heights.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Spokane County Library District branch.
New in Airway Heights? 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 $2.37 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Airway Heights cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $18M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $42M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $18M 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 143,001 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spokane | Central Library fine-free | 5.7 | — | B+ |
| Airway Heights | Airway Heights Library fine-free | — | 35 | C |
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. Airway Heights Library is one branch of Spokane County Library District, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 312,530 people it serves.
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 Airway Heights
Does Airway Heights have a public library?
Yes: Airway Heights Library, 1213 S Lundstrom St., is a branch of Spokane County Library District, which serves 312,530 people. The branch is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Spokane County Library District 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 Airway Heights’ library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 9.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Airway Heights’ civic life grade?
C Airway Heights is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns on civic life, #111 of 152 in Washington. 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 Airway Heights.
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.