Ute Cemetery · Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Aspen’s library logs 12 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Pitkin County Library serves 13,534 people in and around Aspen. Last year it lent 184K books, movies and e-books and logged 166K visits.
What Aspen’s library is like
More library cards than residents
15,309 cards for 13,534 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 64% of loans, more per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 36%. What people borrow ↓
Visits are the system’s strong suit
Pitkin County Library logs 12 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 98% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 4.9 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
A well-funded system
Pitkin County Library spends $367 per resident a year, about eight times the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (93%) comes from local taxes. 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; Pitkin County Library serves 13,534 people in and around Aspen, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Aspen’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Aspen is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns, #16 of 104 in Colorado. Aspen is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Aspen’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
96 community nonprofits are registered in Aspen
14.2 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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.8%
7.8% of Aspen’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.8% in the typical Colorado 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 Aspen’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 56 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Pitkin County Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Pitkin County Library serves 13,534 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
64% of borrowing is digital
184K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
117,497 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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
Pitkin County Library, 120 N Mill Street, Aspen.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Pitkin County Library branch.
New in Aspen? 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 Aspen cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5M 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 15,309 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Pitkin County Library serves 13,534 people in and around Aspen, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Aspen.
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 Aspen
Does Aspen have a public library?
Yes. Pitkin County Library, 120 N Mill Street, serves 13,534 people in and around Aspen (the survey’s count) and is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pitkin County 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 Aspen’s library?
It logged 12.3 visits and lent 13.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Aspen’s civic life grade?
A Aspen is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns on civic life, #16 of 104 in Colorado. 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 Aspen.
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.