Gunnison River Bridge I · Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY-SA 3.0Gunnison’s library logs 11 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Gunnison County Library District serves 17,321 people in and around Gunnison. Last year it lent 137K books, movies and e-books and logged 183K visits.
The short version on Gunnison’s library
Visits are the system’s strong suit
Gunnison County Library District logs 11 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 97% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 5.1 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Nearly everyone the system serves has a card
16,585 cards for 17,321 people, or 96%. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.8 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 86% of similar-size libraries. It’s 35% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
A well-funded system
Gunnison County Library District spends $87 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (98%) 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; Gunnison County Library District serves 17,321 people in and around Gunnison, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Gunnison’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Gunnison is among the top 1% of U.S. towns, #2 of 104 in Colorado. Gunnison is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Gunnison near the top nationally; Gunnison’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 →
80 community nonprofits are registered in Gunnison
11.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (12 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
14.1%
14.1% of Gunnison’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 Gunnison’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 24 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Gunnison County Library District 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.
Gunnison County Library District serves 17,321 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
137K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
48,112 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
Gunnison County Library District, 1 Quartz St., Gunnison.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Gunnison County Library District branch.
New in Gunnison? 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 $1.44 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gunnison cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.5M 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 16,585 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Gunnison County Library District serves 17,321 people in and around Gunnison, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Gunnison.
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 Gunnison
Does Gunnison have a public library?
Yes. Gunnison County Library District, 1 Quartz St., serves 17,321 people in and around Gunnison (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Gunnison County Library District 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 Gunnison’s library?
It logged 10.6 visits and lent 7.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Gunnison’s civic life grade?
A+ Gunnison is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life, #2 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 Gunnison.
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.