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TNTennessee rankings

Towns that borrow the most from their library in Tennessee

Ranked by books, movies, e-books and other items the town’s public library lent in a year, per resident. 19 towns with 2,500+ residents.

IMLS Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024

Map of Brentwood 1 Brentwood 15.0 per resident The John P. Holt Brentwood Library Map of Collegedale 2 Collegedale 14.8 per resident Collegedale Public Library Germantown 3 Germantown 10.0 per resident Germantown Community Library
#TownLoans per residentLibraryLoans a year
1 Map of Brentwood Brentwood45,556 people 15.0 per resident The John P. Holt Brentwood Library 678,079
2 Map of Collegedale Collegedale11,330 people 14.8 per resident Collegedale Public Library 169,575
3 Germantown Germantown40,673 people 10.0 per resident Germantown Community Library 402,509
4 Johnson City Johnson City72,222 people 9.7 per resident Johnson City Public Library 711,687
5 Collierville Collierville51,515 people 8.8 per resident Lucius E. and Elsie C. Burch, Jr. Library 450,999
6 White House White House14,631 people 7.2 per resident White House Public Library 110,276
7 Map of Gatlinburg Gatlinburg3,663 people 6.9 per resident Anna Porter Public Library 25,508
8 Signal Mountain Signal Mountain8,860 people 6.6 per resident Town of Signal Mountain Library 58,819
9 Oak Ridge Oak Ridge32,693 people 6.0 per resident Oak Ridge Public Library 199,899
10 Chattanooga Chattanooga185,783 people 5.9 per resident Chattanooga Public Library 1,112,508
11 Kingsport Kingsport56,262 people 5.8 per resident Kingsport Public Library 329,266
12 Millington Millington11,289 people 4.6 per resident Millington Public Library 52,586
13 Arlington Arlington15,205 people 4.3 per resident Sam T. Wilson Public Library 66,360
14 Mosheim Mosheim2,511 people 3.1 per resident Mosheim Public Library 7,922
15 East Ridge East Ridge22,070 people 1.6 per resident East Ridge City Library 34,722
16 Mount Carmel Mount Carmel5,472 people 1.6 per resident Mt. Carmel Library 8,642
17 McKenzie McKenzie5,631 people 1.2 per resident Mckenzie Memorial Library 6,635
18 La Vergne40,243 people 1.0 per resident La Vergne Public Library 40,171
19 Oliver Springs Oliver Springs3,281 people 0.9 per resident Oliver Springs Public Library 3,009

How this ranking works

We rank every town by books, movies, e-books and other items the town’s public library lent in a year, per resident. The highest figure ranks #1. Each library reports its own yearly numbers to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (fiscal year 2024), and each town’s Library page shows how it compares with libraries of a similar size nationwide.

A town is ranked only when its library system serves that town alone, and the library’s own count of the people it serves is within 20% of the town’s population. Towns served by a county or regional system, or sharing a library with a neighbor, can’t be credited with the numbers, so they aren’t ranked. Libraries that didn’t respond to the survey aren’t ranked either. Vacation towns can rank high because summer residents and visitors use the library too.

Only towns with at least 2,500 residents are ranked; Census estimates for smaller places are too uncertain. Population and income: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Libraries: IMLS Public Libraries Survey. Town photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited on each town’s page.

Same ranking in other states

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