Photo: Corbin Harder · CC BY-SA 4.0Richland’s library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Richland Public Library serves Richland’s 64,190 residents. Last year it lent 893K books, movies and e-books and logged 207K visits.
What Richland’s library is like
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.7 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 92% of similar-size libraries. It’s 27% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Richland is a town of borrowers
Richland Public Library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 90% of similar-size libraries. Each item on the shelves went out about 4 times last year. What people borrow ↓
Programs draw a crowd
51,000 people came to the library’s 974 programs last year: 0.8 per resident, against a typical 0.3, more than at 91% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
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 Richland’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Richland is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns, #59 of 152 in Washington. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
247 community nonprofits are registered in Richland
3.9 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 (44 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.
8.9%
8.9% of Richland’s 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 Richland’s residents live; 2022.
About 5 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 Richland last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Richland Public Library serves 64,190 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 280 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
893K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 165K books and other items on the shelves went out about 4 times last year, on average.
238,518 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Richland Public Library, 955 Northgate Dr, Richland.
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 Richland? 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 $5.11 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Richland cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $14M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.8M 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 cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 29,895 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richland | Richland Public Library fine-free | 13.9 | 62 | B |
| Kennewick | Kennewick Branch Library fine-free | — | 65 | C− |
| West Richland | West Richland Branch Library fine-free | — | 47 | C+ |
| Pasco | Pasco Branch Library fine-free | — | 47 | D |
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 Richland
Does Richland have a public library?
Yes. Richland Public Library, 955 Northgate Dr, serves Richland’s 64,190 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Richland 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 Richland’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 13.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Richland’s civic life grade?
B Richland is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns on civic life, #59 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 Richland.
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.