Skip to content
FourthSpace

Third place supply: what we have, what we lost, where we spend our time

Has the U.S. lost its third places, the spots outside home and work where people gather? Which kinds of places grew and which shrank since 1998, nationally and in Sacramento County? And do Americans still use the ones that remain?

Analysis by Andrew Ly (opens in a new tab) · Updated

Key finding

-40% (1.16 to 0.70)

Change in civic and social organizations per 10000 residents

The mix changed more than the total.

Change in establishments per 10,000 residents, 1998 to 2023 (%)

  • United States
  • Sacramento County

cbp_third_places_1998_2023.csv

Findings

  1. The mix changed more than the total.

    Establishments of all kinds per resident barely moved (-1% nationally, +2% in Sacramento County, 1998 to 2023).

  2. Coffee shops and gyms grew fast.

    Per resident, coffee shops and snack bars rose 91% nationally and 81% in Sacramento County. Sacramento went from 206 to 501 of them. Fitness and recreation centers rose 51% nationally and 27% locally.

  3. Bars, civic clubs and bookstores shrank.

    Per resident, bars fell 38% nationally and 44% in Sacramento County (166 to 124 establishments). Civic and social organizations fell 40% nationally and 34% locally. Bookstores fell 69% nationally and 61% locally. Religious organizations with paid staff fell about 5% in both.

  4. Americans spend 74 more minutes a day at home than in 2003.

    Waking time at home rose from 437 minutes a day in 2003 to 455 in 2019 and 511 in 2025. Part of the post-2020 jump is remote work, covered in Project 08.

  5. Time at third places fell by 16 minutes a day.

    It went from 83 minutes in 2003 to 78 in 2019 and 67 in 2025. Time at someone else's home fell from 44 to 29 minutes. Time at places of worship fell from 10.0 to 6.8. Restaurants and bars dipped in 2020 and stood at 12.6 minutes in 2025, below the 17.4 of 2019.

  6. Library visits are a third below 2019.

    U.S. public library visits per resident peaked at 5.3 in FY2009, fell to 3.9 by FY2019, and were 2.6 in FY2024. Total visits in FY2024 were 69% of FY2019. Program attendance recovered faster, to 84% of FY2019.

  7. Sacramento Public Library is further behind.

    FY2024 visits were 2.0 million, 54% of the 3.7 million in FY2019. Program attendance was at 61% of FY2019.

Options

  1. Option A. Pitch the shift

    Use findings 2 and 3 in the deck: coffee shops per person nearly doubled since 1998, and civic clubs fell 40%.

  2. Option B. Start venue outreach with coffee shops

    They are the largest growing category, with 501 in Sacramento County, and they gain from regulars.

  3. Option C. Court civic and social organizations

    They are shrinking and need new members, so an app that sends people to their events solves their problem.

  4. Option D. Make the library system the anchor partner

    My pick

    Libraries are free, open to all, run events, and Sacramento Public Library is at about half its 2019 visits.

  5. Option E. Buy foot-traffic data

    Advan or SafeGraph would show visits per venue. It costs money and is optional per the brief.

Default pick: D, with B as the volume play. One public partner gives FourthSpace free space and a ready calendar of events from day one. The library also has a measurable reason to say yes. Coffee shops then fill the map.

Method

  1. 01_cbp_third_places.py reads 26 years of county files and sums establishments for nine third place categories. NAICS codes changed in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017, so each category is mapped to the code in force that year. Full-service restaurants are 722110 through 2011 and 722511 after. Coffee shops and snack bars are 722213 through 2011 and 722515 after. Bars (722410), bookstores (451211), fitness centers (713940), civic and social organizations (813410) and religious organizations (813110) keep the same code. CBP never suppresses establishment counts, so the U.S. total is the sum over every county record. Counts are divided by population for a per-10,000-residents rate.
  2. 02_imls_library_visits.py sums annual visits and program attendance across every public library system, and pulls Sacramento Public Library's row. The series starts in FY1998, the first year with the current VISITS variable.
  3. 03_atus_where_time_goes.py adds up diary minutes by location for every respondent and takes weighted means. Third places combined means someone else's home, a restaurant or bar, a place of worship, a library, a gym and outdoors away from home.
  4. 04_charts.py draws the charts.

Tools

Python 3.13, pandas, NumPy, matplotlib, Plotly. Downloads with curl on a Mac (fetch_data.sh).

Caveats

  1. CBP counts only establishments with paid employees. Volunteer-run clubs, small congregations and nonemployer businesses are missing, and this undercounts civic and religious places most.
  2. A count of establishments says nothing about size, hours or how welcoming a place is. A coffee kiosk and a large café count the same.
  3. Bowling centers drop about 40% between 2016 and 2017, which looks like a classification change. They are excluded from the headline chart.
  4. NAICS bridges are approximate. For example, 722515 (2012 on) covers the same kinds of coffee and snack places as 722213. Its boundaries moved slightly.
  5. ATUS location is not collected for sleep, grooming and some personal care, so those minutes sit outside every category. The gym code starts mid-2004. 2020 covers May to December.
  6. Sacramento Public Library's jumps in FY2002 and FY2010 likely reflect changes in how visits were counted.
  7. Everything here is descriptive. It shows what changed. It cannot say why.

Downloads

  • Clean federal data

    ZIP, 22 KB · Data from BEA, BLS, Census and IMLS

    Download the zip (Clean federal data, 22 KB)

    Files

    • atus_minutes_by_place.csv
    • cbp_third_places_1998_2023.csvPopulation from BEA for the United States and from Census for Sacramento County, obtained through FRED.
    • imls_sacramento_public_library.csv
    • imls_us_library_visits.csv

These files come from US federal agencies and are in the public domain. Every other source has its own terms, so it is linked at the publisher under Sources.

Sources

  1. U.S. Census Bureau County Business Patterns, county files

    Years
    1998-2023
    Geography
    All U.S. counties; Sacramento County (FIPS 06067)

    https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/data/datasets.html (opens in a new tab)

    Public domain

  2. IMLS Public Libraries Survey, administrative entity files

    Years
    FY1998-FY2024
    Geography
    50 states and DC; Sacramento Public Library

    https://www.imls.gov/research-evaluation/data-collection/public-libraries-survey (opens in a new tab)

    Public domain

  3. BLS American Time Use Survey activity file, location codes (TEWHERE)

    Years
    2003-2025
    Geography
    U.S., ages 15+

    https://www.bls.gov/tus/data.htm (opens in a new tab)

    Public domain

  4. FRED population series B230RC0A052NBEA (U.S.) and CASACR5POP (Sacramento County)

    Years
    1998-2025
    Geography
    U.S.; Sacramento County

    https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CASACR5POP (opens in a new tab)

    Publisher's terms

The brief listed NaNDA (National Neighborhood Data Archive) as a source. Its files require an ICPSR login, so this project builds the same establishment counts straight from County Business Patterns, which is the source NaNDA itself uses. Paid foot-traffic data (Advan, SafeGraph) was not used.

Interactive charts

  • Americans spend over an hour more at home each day than in 2003

  • Coffee shops per person nearly doubled since 1998, and civic clubs fell 40%

  • Public library visits are still a third below 2019

Keep reading

Civic life and loneliness: counties and Sacramento ZIPs

Do places with more volunteering, more civic groups and more cross-class friendships report less loneliness? How does Sacramento's civic life compare, and which Sacramento ZIPs stand out?

Next study
Counties where more people volunteer report less loneliness

Be first through the door.

We're opening in Sacramento first. Join the list and we'll email you when we open.

Fields marked * are required.

Places you'd go (optional)
How we use your details

Study04/07Join the waitlist