Photo: Generic1139 · CC BY-SA 3.0Kingwood’s library logs 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Kingwood Public Library serves 20,530 people in and around Kingwood. Last year it lent 23K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,284 visits.
What Kingwood’s library is like
Kingwood Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Kingwood Public Library records 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $11 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
West Virginia pays a big share
45% of the budget comes from the state, and 46% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Kingwood Public Library offered 89 programs last year, 4.3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Kingwood Public Library spends $11 per resident, less than 94% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). 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; Kingwood Public Library serves 20,530 people in and around Kingwood, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Kingwood’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Kingwood is among the top 1% of U.S. towns, #4 of 48 in West Virginia. Kingwood is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Kingwood’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
43 community nonprofits are registered in Kingwood
14.5 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
11.6%
11.6% of Kingwood’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.9% in the typical West Virginia 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 Kingwood’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Kingwood Public Library serves 20,530 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Kingwood Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
23K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Kingwood’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
6,187 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
89 programs a year
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
Kingwood Public Library, 205 West Main St., Kingwood.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Kingwood Public Library branch.
New in Kingwood? 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 $1.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Kingwood cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $230K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $404K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $230K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 5,720 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Kingwood Public Library serves 20,530 people in and around Kingwood, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Kingwood.
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 Kingwood
Does Kingwood have a public library?
Yes. Kingwood Public Library, 205 West Main St., serves 20,530 people in and around Kingwood (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Kingwood Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Kingwood’s library?
It logged 0.5 visits and lent 1.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Kingwood’s civic life grade?
A+ Kingwood is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life, #4 of 48 in West Virginia. 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 Kingwood.
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.