Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainMancos’ library logs 5.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Mancos Library District serves 3,290 people in and around Mancos. Last year it lent 27K books, movies and e-books and logged 18K visits.
What Mancos’s library is like
More library cards than residents
3,520 cards for 3,290 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
A well-funded system
Mancos Library District spends $156 per resident a year, about four times the typical $43 for a library its size. 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; Mancos Library District serves 3,290 people in and around Mancos, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Mancos’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mancos is ahead of 95% of U.S. towns. Mancos is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Mancos’ 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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Mancos
7.4 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.8%
10.8% of Mancos’ 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 Mancos’ residents live; 2022.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.48 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mancos cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $513K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $758K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $513K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 3,520 cardholders ÷ 12.
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.
Mancos Library District serves 3,290 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Mancos Library District system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
27K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
4,554 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, 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
Mancos Library District, 211 W. First St., Mancos.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Mancos Library District branch.
New in Mancos? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Mancos Library District serves 3,290 people in and around Mancos, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Mancos.
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 Mancos
Does Mancos have a public library?
Yes. Mancos Library District, 211 W. First St., serves 3,290 people in and around Mancos (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mancos Library District fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Mancos’ library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 8.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Mancos’ civic life grade?
A Mancos is ahead of 95% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Mancos.
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.