Photo: Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0Vancouver’s library is a branch of Fort Vancouver Regional Library District, which lends more per resident than 78% of systems its size
Vancouver’s library is the Vancouver Community Library, a branch of Fort Vancouver Regional Library District, which serves 552,118 people and lent 5.2M items last year.
What stands out about Vancouver Community Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Vancouver’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Vancouver is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns, #58 of 152 in Washington. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #58. Vancouver is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Vancouver’s count of community nonprofits pulls 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 →
574 community nonprofits are registered in Vancouver
2.9 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 (170 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 23 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
10.4%
10.4% of Vancouver’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 Vancouver’s residents live; 2022.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
5.2M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,934,472 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 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Fort Vancouver Regional Library District serves 552,118 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 135 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Fort Vancouver Regional Library District system. The library’s own count.
About 52 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.
3 places to borrow in Vancouver
Vancouver Community Library, 901 C Street, Vancouver.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Fort Vancouver Regional Library District branch.
New in Vancouver? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Fort Vancouver Regional Library District branches in Vancouver
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.87 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Vancouver cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $27M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $78M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $27M 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 179,771 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camas | Camas Public Library fine-free | 21.9 | 49 | A |
| Vancouver | Vancouver Community Library fine-free | — | 62 | B |
| Portland | Central Library fine-free | — | 54 | A |
| Hazel Dell | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Minnehaha | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Five Corners | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Orchards | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Lake Shore | 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.
- System-wide. Vancouver Community Library is one branch of Fort Vancouver Regional Library District, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 552,118 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 Vancouver
Does Vancouver have a public library?
Yes: Vancouver Community Library, 901 C Street, is a branch of Fort Vancouver Regional Library District, which serves 552,118 people. The branch is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fort Vancouver Regional 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 Vancouver’s library?
It logged 2.5 visits and lent 9.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Vancouver’s civic life grade?
B Vancouver is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns on civic life, #58 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 Vancouver.
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.