Highest public libraries by state

How to read this ranking

California has the highest published public libraries in this comparison, at 1,221. The next states shown are New York (1,067) and Texas (892).

The table orders 51 states by public library outlets. It describes one published measure, not an overall judgment about where to live.

Use the result as a starting point, then compare the underlying source, dates, and local county figures before making a decision. Library branches, bookmobiles and books-by-mail services, counted where each one stands. Outlets rather than systems: a system is an administrative body that might run twelve branches across a county, and the branch is the thing you can walk into. The Public Libraries Survey is a census rather than a directory, with state library agencies reporting every public library, so a county reading zero genuinely has no outlet rather than nobody having registered one. Counted, not rated: outlets per head would rank a single rural branch above a city system. Placed by coordinate rather than by the county name in the file, which still uses Connecticut's abolished counties and cannot see Virginia's independent cities. Institute of Museum and Library Services, FY2023.