Gragg Field Historic District · Photo: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Services Agency · Public domainClanton’s library logs 0.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Chilton - Clanton Public Library serves 45,884 people in and around Clanton. Last year it lent 46K books, movies and e-books and logged 28K visits.
What Clanton’s library is like
Chilton - Clanton Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Chilton - Clanton Public Library records 0.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $6 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Chilton - Clanton Public Library offered 141 programs last year, 3.1 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Alabama pays a big share
22% of the budget comes from the state, and 74% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Most programs are for young children
70% of the 141 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.5 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Chilton - Clanton Public Library spends $6 per resident, less than 99% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). What your card is worth ↓
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; Chilton - Clanton Public Library serves 45,884 people in and around Clanton, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Clanton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Clanton is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns, #73 of 156 in Alabama. Clanton is graded on two of the three inputs. Clanton’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Chilton - Clanton Public Library spends $6 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($36K–$59K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
38 community nonprofits are registered in Clanton
4.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
3.7%
3.7% of Clanton’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.8% in the typical Alabama 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 Clanton’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Chilton - Clanton Public Library serves 45,884 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Chilton - Clanton Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
46K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
10,531 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, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
Chilton - Clanton Public Library, 100 First Avenue, Clanton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Chilton - Clanton Public Library branch.
New in Clanton? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.45 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Clanton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $290K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $710K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $290K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 12,819 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Chilton - Clanton Public Library serves 45,884 people in and around Clanton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Clanton.
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 Clanton
Does Clanton have a public library?
Yes. Chilton - Clanton Public Library, 100 First Avenue, serves 45,884 people in and around Clanton (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Chilton - Clanton Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Clanton’s library?
It logged 0.6 visits and lent 1.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Clanton’s civic life grade?
C− Clanton is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns on civic life, #73 of 156 in Alabama. 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 Clanton.
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.