Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Salem’s library lends 5.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Salem Free Public Library serves 6,551 people in and around Salem. Last year it lent 42K books, movies and e-books and logged 14K visits.
Salem’s library, in brief
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Salem Free Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Four of the five libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
58% of the 212 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 54 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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; Salem Free Public Library serves 6,551 people in and around Salem, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Salem’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Salem is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns, #45 of 155 in Connecticut. Salem is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Salem’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
15 community nonprofits are registered in Salem
3.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: environment & animals.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.6%
10.6% of Salem’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 Salem’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Salem Free Public Library serves 6,551 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Salem Free Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
42K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,834 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Salem Free Public Library, 264 Hartford Rd., Salem.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Salem Free Public Library branch.
New in Salem? 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 $2.55 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Salem cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $267K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $681K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $267K 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 1,421 cardholders ÷ 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colchester | Cragin Memorial Library | 9.3 | 49 | B+ |
| East Lyme | East Lyme Public Library fine-free | 8.9 | 57 | A |
| Lyme | Lyme Public Library fine-free | 7.9 | 60 | B |
| East Haddam | East Haddam Free Public Library fine-free | 6.6 | 44 | A+ |
| Montville | Raymond Library fine-free | 2.4 | 29 | C− |
| Salem | Salem Free Public Library | — | 40 | B+ |
| Bozrah | None of its own | — | — | A |
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.
- System-wide. Salem Free Public Library serves 6,551 people in and around Salem, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Salem.
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 Salem
Does Salem have a public library?
Yes. Salem Free Public Library, 264 Hartford Rd., serves 6,551 people in and around Salem (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Salem Free Public Library 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 Salem’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 6.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Salem’s civic life grade?
B+ Salem is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns on civic life, #45 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 Salem.
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.