Photo: Elisa.rolle · CC BY-SA 4.0Buena Vista’s library logs 9.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Northern Chaffee County Library District (Buena Vista) serves 9,765 people in and around Buena Vista. Last year it lent 103K books, movies and e-books and logged 90K visits.
The short version on Buena Vista’s library
Visits are the system’s strong suit
Northern Chaffee County Library District (Buena Vista) logs 9.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 93% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 6.9 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.7 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. It’s 35% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
A well-funded system
Northern Chaffee County Library District (Buena Vista) spends $90 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (92%) 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; Northern Chaffee County Library District (Buena Vista) serves 9,765 people in and around Buena Vista, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Buena Vista’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Buena Vista is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns, #19 of 104 in Colorado. Buena Vista is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Buena Vista’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 →
27 community nonprofits are registered in Buena Vista
9.0 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.8%
7.8% of Buena Vista’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 Buena Vista’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Northern Chaffee County Library District (Buena Vista) system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Northern Chaffee County Library District (Buena Vista) serves 9,765 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
103K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
36,012 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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
Northern Chaffee County Library District (Buena Vista), 131 Linderman Avenue, Buena Vista.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Northern Chaffee County Library District (Buena Vista) branch.
New in Buena Vista? 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 $1.92 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Buena Vista cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $880K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $880K 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 5,630 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Northern Chaffee County Library District (Buena Vista) serves 9,765 people in and around Buena Vista, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Buena Vista.
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 Buena Vista
Does Buena Vista have a public library?
Yes. Northern Chaffee County Library District (Buena Vista), 131 Linderman Avenue, serves 9,765 people in and around Buena Vista (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Northern Chaffee County Library District (Buena Vista) 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 Buena Vista’s library?
It logged 9.2 visits and lent 10.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Buena Vista’s civic life grade?
A− Buena Vista is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns on civic life, #19 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 Buena Vista.
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.