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Mountain Home Commercial Historic DistrictMountain Home Commercial Historic District · Photo: JenBaker1951 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Baxter County Library

Mountain Home’s library runs 26 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size

Baxter County Library serves 41,627 people in and around Mountain Home. Last year it lent 179K books, movies and e-books and logged 126K visits.

300 Library Hill, Mountain Home 72653 · about 54 hours a week
B+Civic lifeAhead of 73% of U.S. towns · #19 of 114 in Arkansas. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Directions (870) 580-0987 What’s a card worth?
Borrowed a year
179K
4.3 per resident
Visits a year
126K
3 per resident · Above typical (2.6)
Programs & events
1,080
about 21 a week · 26K attended
Cardholders
74%
30,831 cards
Open
54 hrs
a week at this branch
In brief

Mountain Home’s library, in brief

Gifts and endowments pay a real share

32% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 62%. What your card is worth ↓

Kids’ books are most of what goes out

Children’s books and media make up 70% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 56% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓

74% of the people it serves carry a library card

30,831 cards for 41,627 people, or 74%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓

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; Baxter County Library serves 41,627 people in and around Mountain Home, and its numbers cover all of them.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Mountain Home’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mountain Home is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns, #19 of 114 in Arkansas. Mountain Home is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Mountain Home’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.

B+
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Mountain Home’s overall grade.
–Library visitsServed by a county or regional system, so there is no town figureA−Community nonprofits5.5 per 1,000 residents · AR towns 3.4 · U.S. 3.7B−Volunteering7.9% of adults 25–44 · AR towns 7.2% · U.S. 7.5%
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 73%
FewerMore
Arkansas towns we grade (114)Ahead of 84%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $31K–$52K (2,326)Ahead of 76%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

72 community nonprofits are registered in Mountain Home

5.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture50.37 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation50.39 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans211.58 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services161.19 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education90.68 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health60.43 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals30.24 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other80.60 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (18 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.

Volunteering

7.9%

7.9% of Mountain Home’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.2% in the typical Arkansas 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 Mountain Home’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 3 visits · typical 2.6Higher than 58%
Borrowing per resident 2.8 print items · typical 3.7Lower than 62%
Digital borrowing 1.5 e-items · typical 1.2Higher than 59%
Kids’ borrowing 2 kids’ items · typical 1.7Higher than 56%
Program attendance 0.6 attendees · typical 0.3Higher than 82%
Programs offered 25.9 per 1,000 residents · typical 14Higher than 82%
Cardholders 74% of residents · typical 39%Higher than 88%
Spending $38 per resident · typical $40Lower than 53%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Baxter County Library serves 41,627 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 64 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Baxter County Library system. The library’s own count.

126K
visits
3 per resident
179K
loans, print + digital
4.3 per resident
1,080
programs & events
26K attended
31K
library cards
74% of people served
Every open hour64items borrowed
Every week503people at a program
Every day47Wi-Fi sessions
16 staff (full-time equivalent)33 public computers
What people borrow

More than half the print loans are kids’ books

179K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

179Kloans
Books & media (adults) 20%Kids’ books & media 46%E-books, audio & streaming 34%
From your couch

61,607 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 11 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Mountain Home →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5344
Ages 6–11234
Teens205
Adults229
All ages68
Little ones
6.6

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

82K
kids’ books & media borrowed
26K
people at programs
1,080
programs
The building

Find it

Baxter County Library, 300 Library Hill, Mountain Home.

Directions(870) 580-0987
54
hours open a week
35,500
square feet
With a card

E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Baxter County Library branch.

New in Mountain Home? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.78 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mountain Home cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$38 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.6M.

Local taxes 62%State 6%Gifts & other 32%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.6M 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 30,831 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Baxter County Library serves 41,627 people in and around Mountain Home, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Mountain Home.

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 Mountain Home

Does Mountain Home have a public library?

Yes. Baxter County Library, 300 Library Hill, serves 41,627 people in and around Mountain Home (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Baxter County 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 Mountain Home’s library?

It logged 3.0 visits and lent 4.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.

What is Mountain Home’s civic life grade?

B+ Mountain Home is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns on civic life, #19 of 114 in Arkansas. 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 Mountain Home.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.