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WAWashington rankings

Towns with the most-used public libraries in Washington

Ranked by library visits per resident in a year, at the public library that serves the town. 20 towns with 2,500+ residents.

IMLS Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024

Port Townsend 1 Port Townsend 10.6 per resident Port Townsend Public Library Burlington 2 Burlington 10.2 per resident Burlington Public Library 3 Pullman 8.6 per resident Pullman (Neill) Public Library
#TownVisits per residentLibraryVisits a year
1 Port Townsend Port Townsend10,438 people 10.6 per resident Port Townsend Public Library 111,941
2 Burlington Burlington10,003 people 10.2 per resident Burlington Public Library 106,610
3 Pullman32,229 people 8.6 per resident Pullman (Neill) Public Library 289,184
4 Map of Anacortes Anacortes17,966 people 7.4 per resident Anacortes Public Library 135,164
5 Spokane Spokane230,293 people 5.4 per resident Spokane Public Library 1,266,849
6 Camas Camas27,007 people 5.4 per resident Camas Public Library 149,686
7 Ocean Shores Ocean Shores7,302 people 5.4 per resident Ocean Shores Public Library 41,183
8 Puyallup Puyallup42,746 people 5.3 per resident Puyallup Public Library 231,966
9 Liberty Lake Liberty Lake12,737 people 5.0 per resident Liberty Lake Municipal Library 69,575
10 Bellingham Bellingham93,438 people 4.7 per resident Bellingham Public Library 452,638
11 Ellensburg Ellensburg20,874 people 4.4 per resident Ellensburg Public Library 92,868
12 Seattle Seattle754,195 people 3.7 per resident Seattle Public Library 2,937,411
13 Walla Walla Walla Walla33,925 people 3.5 per resident Walla Walla Public Library 120,706
14 Richland Richland62,753 people 3.2 per resident Richland Public Library 207,023
15 Everett Everett111,845 people 2.5 per resident Everett Public Library 290,339
16 Kelso Kelso12,684 people 2.3 per resident Kelso Public Library 29,257
17 Kalama Kalama3,050 people 2.3 per resident Kalama Public Library 7,128
18 Mount Vernon Mount Vernon35,377 people 2.2 per resident Mount Vernon City Library 78,176
19 Map of Tacoma Tacoma222,758 people 2.1 per resident Tacoma Public Library 465,851
20 Grandview Grandview11,187 people 2.1 per resident Grandview Library 25,000

How this ranking works

We rank every town by library visits per resident in a year, at the public library that serves the town. 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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