Photo: Christopher Michel from San Francisco, USA · CC BY 2.0Skagway’s library logs 25 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Skagway Public Library serves Skagway’s 1,127 residents. Last year it lent 12K books, movies and e-books and logged 28K visits.
What Skagway’s library is like
People come to Skagway Public Library a lot
Skagway Public Library logs 25 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 99% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 8.2 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Skagway invests in its library
Skagway Public Library spends $361 per resident a year, about seven times the typical $54 for a library its size. Almost all of it (94%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
A place to get online
Skagway Public Library logs about 41 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 4 public computers. That’s 13 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Skagway’s civic life grade
On library visits and volunteering, Skagway is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns. Skagway is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank highest.
Skagway Public Library logged 25.1 visits per resident in FY2024, #15 of the 3,790 town libraries we compare. The survey counts every visit, residents or not, and libraries don’t report how many come from out of town.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
Volunteering in Skagway
Skagway is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
9.1%
9.1% of Skagway’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 14.9% in the typical Alaska town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Skagway’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Skagway Public Library serves 1,127 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
12K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 14K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
2,346 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Skagway last year.
Find it
Skagway Public Library, 703 State Street, Skagway.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Skagway? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Skagway cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $407K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $241K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $407K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 922 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits count everyone. Skagway’s 28,280 visits include people from nearby towns and summer visitors; the survey has no resident share.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Skagway
Does Skagway have a public library?
Yes. Skagway Public Library, 703 State Street, serves Skagway’s 1,127 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Skagway Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Skagway’s library?
It logged 25.1 visits and lent 10.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Its visits per resident rank #15 of the 3,790 town libraries we compare.
What is Skagway’s civic life grade?
A Skagway is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns on civic life. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Skagway.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.