Joseph Bellamy House · Photo: Jerry Dougherty · CC BY 2.5Bethlehem Public Library serves Bethlehem’s 3,421 residents
Bethlehem Public Library serves Bethlehem’s 3,421 residents.
What’s behind Bethlehem’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Bethlehem is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns, #4 of 155 in Connecticut. Its library’s 2024 visits weren’t reported, so Bethlehem is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Bethlehem’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
The survey’s stand-in for Bethlehem’s 2024 visits carries forward a 2023 figure, so it is left out.
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 →
30 community nonprofits are registered in Bethlehem
8.8 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.7%
10.7% of Bethlehem’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.5% in the typical Connecticut 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 Bethlehem’s residents live; 2022.
A year at Bethlehem Public Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: visits and print loans. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Find it
Bethlehem Public Library, 32 Main Street South, Bethlehem.
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 Bethlehem resident borrows (the library didn’t report its card count for 2024).
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 resident’s month = the library’s yearly loans and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ the 3,421 people it serves ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodbury | Woodbury Public Library fine-free | 11.8 | 52 | A |
| Morris | Morris Public Library fine-free | 9.9 | 38 | B+ |
| Washington | Gunn Memorial Library fine-free | 8.5 | 37 | A |
| Watertown | Watertown Library Association fine-free | 2.3 | 40 | C− |
| Bethlehem | Bethlehem Public Library | — | — | A+ |
| Bethlehem Village | Bethlehem Public Library | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Not reported for 2024: visits. Bethlehem Public Library didn’t report visits; the survey’s estimate carries forward its 2023 figure, so we leave it out and never rank it.
- Not reported for 2024: print loans. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 Bethlehem
Does Bethlehem have a public library?
Yes. Bethlehem Public Library, 32 Main Street South, serves Bethlehem’s 3,421 residents (the survey’s count).
How busy is Bethlehem’s library?
It lent 0.0 items per resident in 2024 (print). Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is Bethlehem’s civic life grade?
A+ Bethlehem is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns on civic life, #4 of 155 in Connecticut. 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 Bethlehem.
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.