Figure 2. Number of Public Libraries by Population of Legal Service Area and Metropolitan Status Code.
| Population of Legal Service Area | Number of Libraries | Metropolitan Status Code | Number of Libraries |
| Million + | 20 | CC | 537 |
| 500,000-999,999 | 49 | NC | 2,464 |
| 100,000-499,999 | 392 | NO | 5,623 |
| 25,000-99,999 | 1367 | Unknown* | 297 |
| 5,000-24,999 | 3143 | ||
| LT 5,000 | 3950 | ||
| Overall | 8,921 | 8,921 | |
| *As discussed in Appendix XXX, it is not possible to determine the metropolitan status codes for all library systems primarily due to issues related to the definition of what constitutes a library's central entity. | |||
From:
Bertot, J. C., McClure, C. R., and Fletcher, P.D. (1997). The 1997 National Survey of U.S. Public Libraries and the Internet: Final Report Washington, D.C.: American Library Association, Office for Information Technology Policy.