Fireboat No.1 · Photo: Mike Lane · CC BY-SA 3.0Tacoma’s library lends 5.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Tacoma Public Library serves Tacoma’s 225,100 residents from 8 locations. Last year it lent 1.8M books, movies and e-books and logged 466K visits.
The short version on Tacoma’s library
Tacoma invests in its library
Tacoma Public Library spends $92 per resident a year, about twice the typical $36 for a library its size. Almost all of it (98%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
A place to get online
Tacoma Public Library logs about 5,257 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 110 public computers. That’s 8.5 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Eight places to borrow in Tacoma
Tacoma Public Library runs eight locations, and one card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
82% of Tacoma carry a library card
183,992 cards for 225,100 people, or 82%. At the typical library serving 100,000+ people, it’s 41%. How it compares ↓
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 Tacoma’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Tacoma is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns, #81 of 152 in Washington. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #99. 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 →
854 community nonprofits are registered in Tacoma
3.8 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 (270 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 25 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.0%
9.0% of Tacoma’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 Tacoma’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Tacoma Public Library serves 225,100 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 132 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1.8M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 407K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.9 times last year, on average.
607,614 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 28 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 Tacoma last year.
8 places to borrow in Tacoma
Main Branch, 1102 Tacoma Avenue South, Tacoma.
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 Tacoma? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Tacoma
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.56 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Tacoma cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $21M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $32M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $21M 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 183,992 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tacoma | Main Branch fine-free | 7.9 | — | B− |
| University Place | University Place Library fine-free | — | 61 | C+ |
| Fife | Fife Library fine-free | — | 48 | D |
| Lakewood | Interim Lakewood Branch fine-free | — | 47 | C− |
| Parkland | Parkland/Spanaway Library fine-free | — | 61 | — unincorporated |
| Federal Way | Federal Way Library fine-free | — | 52 | D |
| Midland | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Browns Point | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Dash Point | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Fife Heights | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Waller | 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.
- 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 Tacoma
Does Tacoma have a public library?
Yes. Tacoma Public Library, 1102 Tacoma Avenue South, serves Tacoma’s 225,100 residents (the survey’s count).
Is Tacoma 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 Tacoma’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 7.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Tacoma’s civic life grade?
B− Tacoma is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns on civic life, #81 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 Tacoma.
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.