John Barker House · Photo: UDChE89 · CC BY-SA 3.0Wallingford’s library logs 4.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Wallingford Public Library serves Wallingford’s 43,725 residents. Last year it lent 431K books, movies and e-books and logged 204K visits.
What Wallingford’s library is like
Open about 65 hours a week
Wallingford Public Library is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 127 items go out. The building ↓
Programs lean toward adults
52% of the 1,073 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 353 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.
What’s behind Wallingford’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Wallingford is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns, #72 of 155 in Connecticut. Library visits hold 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 →
199 community nonprofits are registered in Wallingford
4.5 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 (25 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.1%
7.1% of Wallingford’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 Wallingford’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 127 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Wallingford Public Library serves 43,725 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
431K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 181K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2 times last year, on average.
68,611 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 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 Wallingford last year.
Find it
Wallingford Public Library, 200 North Main St., Wallingford.
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 Wallingford? 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 $2.02 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wallingford cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.5M 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 15,784 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Wallingford ranks 3rd of 9 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durham | Durham Public Library | 16.6 | 57 | A |
| Cheshire | Cheshire Public Library fine-free | 10.8 | 61 | B+ |
| Wallingford | Wallingford Public Library fine-free | 9.9 | 65 | B |
| Wallingford Center | Wallingford Public Library fine-free | 9.9 | 65 | — graded as part of its town |
| North Haven | North Haven Memorial Library fine-free | 8.1 | 52 | B |
| Northford | Edward Smith Library fine-free | 8.0 | 54 | — graded as part of its town |
| North Branford | North Branford Library Department fine-free | 8.0 | 54 | B− |
| Hamden | Hamden Public Library fine-free | 5.2 | 51 | C |
| Meriden | Meriden Public Library fine-free | 2.1 | 53 | D |
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.
- 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 Wallingford
Does Wallingford have a public library?
Yes. Wallingford Public Library, 200 North Main St., serves Wallingford’s 43,725 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wallingford 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 Wallingford’s library?
It logged 4.7 visits and lent 9.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Wallingford’s civic life grade?
B Wallingford is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns on civic life, #72 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 Wallingford.
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.