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WAWashington rankings

Towns that borrow the most from their library in Washington

Ranked by books, movies, e-books and other items the town’s public library lent in a year, per resident. 20 towns with 2,500+ residents.

IMLS Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024

Camas 1 Camas 21.9 per resident Camas Public Library Map of Anacortes 2 Anacortes 19.8 per resident Anacortes Public Library Bellingham 3 Bellingham 18.5 per resident Bellingham Public Library
#TownLoans per residentLibraryLoans a year
1 Camas Camas27,007 people 21.9 per resident Camas Public Library 604,598
2 Map of Anacortes Anacortes17,966 people 19.8 per resident Anacortes Public Library 360,886
3 Bellingham Bellingham93,438 people 18.5 per resident Bellingham Public Library 1,802,921
4 Port Townsend Port Townsend10,438 people 16.7 per resident Port Townsend Public Library 176,298
5 Seattle Seattle754,195 people 16.1 per resident Seattle Public Library 12,869,536
6 Richland Richland62,753 people 13.9 per resident Richland Public Library 893,464
7 Pullman32,229 people 11.6 per resident Pullman (Neill) Public Library 389,817
8 Burlington Burlington10,003 people 10.6 per resident Burlington Public Library 110,226
9 Ocean Shores Ocean Shores7,302 people 8.9 per resident Ocean Shores Public Library 67,726
10 Ellensburg Ellensburg20,874 people 8.6 per resident Ellensburg Public Library 179,559
11 Liberty Lake Liberty Lake12,737 people 8.6 per resident Liberty Lake Municipal Library 119,344
12 Puyallup Puyallup42,746 people 8.0 per resident Puyallup Public Library 348,789
13 Map of Tacoma Tacoma222,758 people 7.9 per resident Tacoma Public Library 1,774,005
14 Walla Walla Walla Walla33,925 people 7.7 per resident Walla Walla Public Library 266,032
15 Everett Everett111,845 people 5.8 per resident Everett Public Library 665,536
16 Spokane Spokane230,293 people 5.7 per resident Spokane Public Library 1,327,153
17 Kalama Kalama3,050 people 4.8 per resident Kalama Public Library 15,193
18 Mount Vernon Mount Vernon35,377 people 4.5 per resident Mount Vernon City Library 162,121
19 Kelso Kelso12,684 people 4.0 per resident Kelso Public Library 51,618
20 Grandview Grandview11,187 people 1.6 per resident Grandview Library 19,139

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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