Photo: Jeffery Hayes · CC BY-SA 3.0Seattle’s library logs 3.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Seattle Public Library serves Seattle’s 797,700 residents from 27 locations. Last year it lent 13M books, movies and e-books and logged 2.9M visits.
What Seattle’s library is like
Most of Seattle’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 65% of loans, more per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 35%. What people borrow ↓
27 places to borrow in Seattle
Seattle Public Library runs 27 locations, and one card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
Seattle invests in its library
Seattle Public Library spends $126 per resident a year, about three times the typical $36 for a library its size. Almost all of it (94%) 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 Seattle’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Seattle is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns, #34 of 152 in Washington. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #27. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
3,534 community nonprofits are registered in Seattle
4.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (594 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 169 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
10.7%
10.7% of Seattle’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 Seattle’s residents live; 2022.
65% of borrowing is digital
13M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 1.8M books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.5 times last year, on average.
8,405,516 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 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Seattle Public Library serves 797,700 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 186 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 37 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 Seattle last year.
27 places to borrow in Seattle
Central Library, 1000 4th Avenue, Seattle.
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 Seattle? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Seattle
And 14 more in Seattle.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.98 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Seattle cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $198M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 401,126 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle | Central Library fine-free | 16.1 | 60 | A− |
| Bainbridge Island | Bainbridge Island Library fine-free | — | 54 | A+ |
| Mercer Island | Mercer Island Library fine-free | — | 45 | A− |
| Tukwila | Tukwila Library fine-free | — | 52 | C− |
| Kirkland | Kingsgate Library fine-free | — | 52 | C |
| White Center | Greenbridge Library fine-free | — | 36 | — unincorporated |
| Bryn Mawr-Skyway | Skyway Library fine-free | — | 45 | — unincorporated |
| Burien | Burien Library fine-free | — | 52 | B− |
| Vashon | Vashon Library fine-free | — | 43 | — unincorporated |
| Boulevard Park | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Medina | None of its own | — | — | A− |
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 Seattle
Does Seattle have a public library?
Yes. Seattle Public Library, 1000 4th Avenue, serves Seattle’s 797,700 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Seattle 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 Seattle’s library?
It logged 3.7 visits and lent 16.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Seattle’s civic life grade?
A− Seattle is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns on civic life, #34 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 Seattle.
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.