Florida’s Public Libraries: Economic Impact Study
Why is it important to keep budgets for Florida public libraries healthy?
Florida’s public libraries not only provide valuable services (and materials) to residents, but they also affect the economy of the state through purchasing goods and services from Florida suppliers.
How much of Florida’s economy is supported by the annual spending of its public libraries?
Our economic impact study (PDF) found that Florida public library purchases have a sizable impact on employment and economic activity in the state.
Florida’s libraries have such a powerful economic impact because:
- Public libraries acquire material and services from other industries or sectors of the state’s economy.
- Workers in those industries spend some of their paychecks in Florida.
- Library staff spent part of their earnings in Florida.
Economic contributions in 2019-2020 included:
- Libraries supported 4,353 jobs beyond filling their own staff positions.
- Libraries contributed $346.7 million to the gross domestic product of Florida.
- Library spending in the state led to $179.6 million in earnings being paid to local workers.
This economic impact study evaluated the library-supplied data for fiscal years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. The findings were very similar for each year.
