Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0Cortez’s library lends 6.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Cortez Public Library serves Cortez’s 9,034 residents. Last year it lent 81K books, movies and e-books and logged 46K visits.
What stands out about Cortez’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Cortez’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Cortez is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns, #25 of 104 in Colorado. Cortez’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
93 community nonprofits are registered in Cortez
10.4 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 (26 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.5%
6.5% of Cortez’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 Cortez’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Cortez Public Library serves 9,034 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 33 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
81K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 61K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
21,995 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, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Cortez last year.
Find it
Cortez Public Library, 202 North Park, Cortez.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Cortez? 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 $2.07 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cortez cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $668K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $668K 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 29,134 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Cortez
Does Cortez have a public library?
Yes. Cortez Public Library, 202 North Park, serves Cortez’s 9,034 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cortez Public 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 Cortez’s library?
It logged 5.1 visits and lent 9.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Cortez’s civic life grade?
A− Cortez is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns on civic life, #25 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 Cortez.
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.