Seattle Public Library logs record number of patrons for 2025

Seattle Public Library says it had a record number of active library users in 2025, according to its newly published impact report for the year.

That record number? 430,000. That's how many people used their library card at least once in the last three years, the library said.

Total their checkouts, both in person and digitally, and that's 24 checkouts a minute, the library said. Visitors checked out physical materials 5.5 million times and digital materials such as e-books 7.2 million times. SPL ranks 10th in the world for checkouts of digital books, the library said.

The library also reported more than 3.4 million in-person visits among the system's 27 locations. That's like if each of Seattle's roughly 800,000 residents went to the library more than four times a year.

The Central Library alone received more than 2,000 visitors a day.

The library system also hosted 5,800 programs that were attended by 130,000 people; 1,300 story times and other early literacy programs for 43,000 people; and $8.3 million worth of business services.

Correction: This story has been updated to show that the 430,000 active users was the statistic that set a library record.

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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 9:32 AM.