Chicago’s Library Branches Logged 6.6 Million Visits in 2025, 18 Percent Below 2019. Nine of 67 Branches Beat Their 2019 Count.

What the door counter counts

These are door-counter counts, and the dataset says so plainly: “Count does not reflect the total building visitor count due to location of traffic counter. Community room and program traffic are not included in totals.” It also warns that “many locations experience sporadic closures” for repairs, heating and cooling failures, and power outages. So this page compares only branches with a full year of nonzero months in both 2019 and 2025 — 67 of the system’s 81 locations; the 14 set aside are listed at the bottom. A visit is a door-counter tick, never a person: one patron can be many visits, and program attendees may be none.

The nine branches where visits came back

• Chicago Beecheckouts -21%23,708 → 45,283+91%
• Altgeldcheckouts -56%28,196 → 50,719+80%
• Kingcheckouts -46%35,190 → 50,169+43%
• Daley, Richard J.60,663 → 75,470+24%
• Bucktown-Wicker Parkcheckouts +3%128,142 → 155,365+21%
• Independencecheckouts -1%75,052 → 81,777+9%
• Blackstonecheckouts -18%94,358 → 100,682+7%
• West Towncheckouts +8%102,826 → 104,903+2%
• Lincoln Parkcheckouts +4%137,424 → 138,741+1%

The two biggest gains: Chicago Bee, up 91 percent, and Altgeld, up 80 percent — both from counts under 30,000 visits a year in 2019, small bases where a modest absolute change moves the percentage a long way. The list’s largest branch by count, Bucktown-Wicker Park, ran 155,365 visits in 2025, 21 percent over its 2019 figure. The records say nothing about why any branch rose or fell — hours, renovations, and programming are not in these files — so this page reports the counts and stops there.

Where the counts fell hardest

• Brainerdcheckouts -63%60,027 → 26,008-57%
• Tomancheckouts -62%88,574 → 40,497-54%
• West Chicago Avenuecheckouts -43%73,704 → 33,953-54%
• Hallcheckouts -52%67,884 → 34,223-50%
• Canaryvillecheckouts -44%38,923 → 21,934-44%

The median compared branch stood at 78 percent of its 2019 visits in 2025 — 58 of the 67 sat below their 2019 count. Brainerd recorded the steepest fall among compared branches, to 43 percent of its 2019 visits.

Checkouts: down at 61 of 65 branches, up 147 percent online

Physical checkouts assigned to branch locations totaled 4.79 million in 2019 and 3.40 million in 2025 — a 29 percent fall, steeper than the 18 percent fall in visits. Only four branches recorded more checkouts in 2025 than 2019: West Town, Lincoln Park, Bucktown-Wicker Park, and Logan Square, all on the North and Northwest Sides. Meanwhile the circulation files’ “Downloadable Media” line — checkouts the system does not assign to any branch — went from 1,841,173 in 2019 to 4,542,450 in 2025. The files also carry renewal lines, and those lines changed: 2019 lists “Online Renewals” (4.82 million); 2025 lists “Auto-Renewals” (6.58 million) plus patron-initiated renewals (0.33 million). Because the file’s own renewal categories changed names and nature between the two years, this page draws no comparison across them.

Look up your branch

• Chicago Beecheckouts -21%23,708 → 45,283+91%
• Altgeldcheckouts -56%28,196 → 50,719+80%
• Kingcheckouts -46%35,190 → 50,169+43%
• Daley, Richard J.60,663 → 75,470+24%
• Bucktown-Wicker Parkcheckouts +3%128,142 → 155,365+21%
• Independencecheckouts -1%75,052 → 81,777+9%
• Blackstonecheckouts -18%94,358 → 100,682+7%
• West Towncheckouts +8%102,826 → 104,903+2%
• Lincoln Parkcheckouts +4%137,424 → 138,741+1%
• West Loopcheckouts -5%83,969 → 83,055-1%
• Near Northcheckouts -11%130,156 → 123,166-5%
• Logan Squarecheckouts +2%150,530 → 139,321-7%
• North Pulaskicheckouts -34%47,718 → 42,977-10%
• Mount Greenwoodcheckouts -26%51,275 → 46,099-10%
• Whitney M. Young, Jr.checkouts -66%82,023 → 73,685-10%
• Uptowncheckouts -20%126,690 → 112,465-11%
• Oriole Parkcheckouts -18%81,829 → 72,633-11%
• Lincoln Belmontcheckouts -21%156,188 → 137,708-12%
• Sulzer Regional Librarycheckouts -13%358,644 → 310,522-13%
• Pullmancheckouts -56%49,370 → 42,596-14%
• Scottsdalecheckouts -44%44,514 → 38,157-14%
• North Austincheckouts -50%41,957 → 35,957-14%
• Rogers Parkcheckouts -30%152,062 → 129,285-15%
• Clearingcheckouts -24%51,668 → 43,792-15%
• Edgewatercheckouts -27%197,045 → 162,421-18%
• Rodencheckouts -29%70,882 → 58,288-18%
• Back of the Yardscheckouts -61%44,989 → 36,447-19%
• West Belmontcheckouts -51%62,243 → 50,213-19%
• Bezaziancheckouts -22%121,571 → 98,018-19%
• Lozanocheckouts -47%123,368 → 98,912-20%
• Chinatowncheckouts -53%271,514 → 215,213-21%
• Mayfaircheckouts -31%47,147 → 37,112-21%
• Wrightwood-Ashburncheckouts -50%47,353 → 37,198-21%
• Greater Grand Crossingcheckouts -75%69,998 → 54,587-22%
• Edgebrookcheckouts -34%97,005 → 75,599-22%
• Beverlycheckouts -28%76,336 → 59,209-22%
• Gage Parkcheckouts -45%29,706 → 22,794-23%
• Brighton Parkcheckouts -64%55,686 → 42,188-24%
• Vodak-East Sidecheckouts -36%60,487 → 45,609-25%
• Austincheckouts -11%77,480 → 57,306-26%
• Dunningcheckouts -26%104,259 → 76,712-26%
• Budlong Woodscheckouts -24%125,049 → 91,823-27%
• Little Villagecheckouts -55%80,689 → 59,104-27%
• Hegewischcheckouts -51%38,747 → 28,312-27%
• McKinley Parkcheckouts -34%99,246 → 71,757-28%
• Manningcheckouts -31%84,158 → 60,712-28%
• Garfield Ridgecheckouts -34%70,128 → 49,328-30%
• Sherman Parkcheckouts -62%42,228 → 29,424-30%
• Harold Washington Library Centercheckouts -53%1,405,964 → 953,677-32%
• Daley, Richard M.116,161 → 78,576-32%
• Jeffery Manorcheckouts -32%57,482 → 38,632-33%
• Woodson Regional Librarycheckouts -59%214,173 → 142,277-34%
• West Englewoodcheckouts -63%69,243 → 43,479-37%
• South Chicagocheckouts -66%83,093 → 51,803-38%
• Thurgood Marshallcheckouts -66%78,209 → 48,221-38%
• Albany Parkcheckouts -42%130,255 → 79,887-39%
• Kellycheckouts -62%65,347 → 39,281-40%
• West Lawncheckouts -59%64,959 → 38,420-41%
• Austin-Irvingcheckouts -54%109,080 → 63,914-41%
• Archer Heightscheckouts -57%86,593 → 50,336-42%
• West Pullmancheckouts -64%87,708 → 50,851-42%
• Avaloncheckouts -61%104,662 → 60,673-42%
• Canaryvillecheckouts -44%38,923 → 21,934-44%
• Hallcheckouts -52%67,884 → 34,223-50%
• West Chicago Avenuecheckouts -43%73,704 → 33,953-54%
• Tomancheckouts -62%88,574 → 40,497-54%
• Brainerdcheckouts -63%60,027 → 26,008-57%

What this page sets aside

Fourteen locations are excluded from the branch comparisons for a zero or missing month in a compared year, or absence from one file: Chicago Lawn (2019); Coleman (2019); Douglass (2019); Galewood-Mont Clare (2025); Humboldt Park (2025); Jefferson Park (2019); Legler Regional (2019); Little Italy (2019); Merlo (2019); Northtown (2019); Portage-Cragin (2019); South Shore (2019); Walker (2019); Water Works (2025, absent from the 2019 visitor file). Their counts are in the citywide series wherever their rows appear, but they get no recovery figure — a partial-year building cannot be compared honestly. One more disclosure: the visitor files spell the central library “Harold Washtington Library Center” — the same misspelling in 2019 and 2025 — while the circulation files spell it correctly. We match the rows regardless and display the correct name; the typo is the portal’s, and it is the kind of thing this method has to catch.

• Source Chicago Public Library’s per-year location datasets on the city data portal — “Libraries – YYYY Visitors by Location” and “Libraries – YYYY Circulation by Location,” 2011 through 2025, thirty datasets in all (2025: visitors, circulation), retrieved August 7, 2026.
• Totals Every figure sums the twelve monthly columns; 19 rows across all thirty datasets carry a year-to-date field that disagrees with the month sum, so month sums are used throughout.
• Branch vs. system rows Circulation files carry system-wide lines alongside branches (renewals, downloadable media). Rows are split by name; branch totals sum branch rows only, and the system lines are reported separately, as recorded.
• Comparisons A branch enters the 2019-vs-2025 comparison only if it appears in both years’ visitor files with twelve nonzero months in each — 67 branches. Checkout comparisons additionally require a nonzero 2019 circulation row — 65.
• Names Branch names are matched after trimming and unifying the visitor files’ misspelled central-library row; displayed names are the 2025 file’s, with the central library’s corrected.

Computed by KCM Desk from records retrieved August 7, 2026. If you spot an error, corrections come first.

Related Keep Chicagoland Moving coverage

• How Chicago Works, by the Numbers
• Chicago on the Clock: We Timed 793,774 Service Requests
• Chicago Paid $5.72 Billion on Contracts in 2025. Ten Payee Names Took 30 Cents of Every Dollar.