LJ Star Libraries 2021: States with the Most, Fewest Stars

The 2021 Star Libraries are scattered across 41 states.

The 2021 Star Libraries are scattered across 40 states.

Regionally, the Midwest has the largest number of Star Libraries at 117, followed by the Northeast at 63 and the West and the South at 48 and 33, respectively. The Midwest’s large number of Star Libraries is accounted for largely by Ohio with 26, Nebraska with 16, Illinois with 15, Kansas with 12, and Iowa with 11—the remaining states are in single digits. New York’s 34 Star Libraries account for more than half of those in the Northeast—the majority of the remainder are accounted for by Massachusetts with 14 and Pennsylvania with five. The West’s Star Libraries are found mostly in four states: California with 11, Colorado with 10, Oregon with seven, and Alaska with six. Texas’s 11 Star Libraries account for a third of those in the South, Alabama and Virginia placing second and third with five and four Star Libraries, respectively.

There are no 2021 Star winners in 10 states, plus the District of Columbia—those include: Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi, North Carolina, Rhode Island, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Notably, in addition to the nation’s capital, these states include one where public libraries are a state rather than a local service (Hawaii); two states (Delaware, Rhode Island) with relatively small numbers of library jurisdictions; and several states where a majority of—in some cases, all—public libraries are organized on a county or multi-jurisdictional basis (Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, West Virginia, Wyoming). As reported in the 2017 edition, public libraries organized on a county or multi-jurisdictional basis tend to have lower per-capita output measures than those organized on a municipal or library district basis.

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Joanne Klimak

My home state of Ohio has 26! I’m now living in a state that has zero public 5 star libraries! Come on folks, you can do better! How do you expect children to love books and reading when they grow up if they don’t have library programs for kids and young adults? I’m totally surprised that some of these more affluent cities/states don’t support their public libraries. Is this what the people of America truly want? Shocking!!! Everyone in the USA should be able to tap into any public library of their choice. They should all be linked and perhaps a fee should be assessed for those who can pay.

Posted : 2022-01-21 16:37:58


Michael Mc Ainsh

Utah's five-star library provided a link to to this article, but I cannot read it because I don't subscribe to the journal. I really don't want to subscribe in order to read one article!

Posted : 2021-12-18 20:56:44

Lisa Peet

Thank you for your feedback!

Any user can access five articles for free each month on libraryjournal.com. To access more, you need a digital or print + digital subscription. (Those with a print-only subscription can see the Star Libraries in the December 2021 issue.)

Because the Star Libraries package is so large, it is comprised of multiple articles. If you’ve used up your free articles for the month, you can check whether your local library has a subscription which would allow you to log in and see more, or check back on January 1 when your monthly free articles reset.

Hope this helps!

Posted : 2021-12-22 15:37:40


Carrie Valdes

The map shows 0 star libraries in Utah while the data shows at least three.

Posted : 2021-12-14 20:12:36

Carrie Valdes

Thanks for fixing it!

Posted : 2021-12-15 15:11:33


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