Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0The nearest public library to Balfour is Hamilton Public Library - Terryberry Branch, 0.7 km away
Balfour is served by Hamilton public library, the library of all of Hamilton, so the figures here are the city’s, for 592,000 people. Its borrowers took out 4.1 items per person served in 2024. Visits here are a typical week’s count times 52, Ontario’s method, so read them as an estimate.
C+Civic life#337 of 866 in OntarioWhat Balfour’s civic life grade weighs
With a C+, Balfour ranks #337 of 866 Ontario towns on civic life. Balfour has every input a civic life grade uses: library visits per resident, charities per 1,000 residents and the province’s volunteering rate.
Informal groups and mutual aid go uncounted.
Sources: provincial statistics, the CRA, Statistics Canada.
Hamilton mailing addresses hold 891 registered charities
There is no count for Balfour on its own: the charities are those of all of Hamilton. It works out to 1.4 per 1,000 residents, where the typical Ontario town has 1.4 and Canada’s 1.4. Charities are placed by mailing address, which flatters service towns whose post office serves a region and undercounts suburbs and rural municipalities.
32.1%
32.1% of people in Ontario did formal volunteering in 2023, a province-wide estimate between 31.0% and 33.2%; across the ten provinces the rate runs from 25.2% to 40.3%.
Statistics Canada, table 45-10-0039.
Ahead of most of Ontario’s town libraries on all 3 measures
Measured per person served against the 195 town libraries of Ontario’s 2024 statistics.
Town libraries only; regional systems left out.
A typical week brings about 52,610 visits
Everything counted at Hamilton public library in 2024: visits, loans and cards.
The nearest library is 0.7 km from Balfour
Closest first, each distance a straight line from the centre of Balfour.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Visits count everyone. Anyone through the door counts as a visit, from Balfour or not, and the statistics have no resident share.
Questions about the library and civic life in Balfour
Does Balfour have a public library?
There isn’t one in Balfour; people there use libraries such as Hamilton Public Library - Terryberry Branch, in Buchanan.
How busy is Hamilton public library?
In 2024 it logged 2,735,720 in-person visits and 2,435,516 loans.
Library statistics: Ontario Public Library Statistics, 2024. Library locations: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Statistics Canada, Open Database of Cultural and Art Facilities (2020). Charities: Canada Revenue Agency, List of charities (2024), charitable organizations only.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).