Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Westport’s library logs 12 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Westport Library serves Westport’s 27,470 residents. Last year it lent 366K books, movies and e-books and logged 335K visits.
Westport’s library, in brief
Westport ranks 4th in Connecticut for library use
Out of 123 Connecticut towns with a library of their own, Westport comes 4th for visits per resident. It’s also #10 for borrowing. How it compares ↓
Westport uses its library more than almost any town its size
Westport Library logs 12 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, and lends 11 print items per resident against a typical 3.7. On both counts it beats 91% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Westport Library ran 1,585 programs last year, about 30 a week. That’s 58 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14. People show up: 55,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Westport out-borrows every town next door
At 13 loans per resident, Westport leads the five towns here. The closest is Fairfield, at 11. Libraries next door ↓
Westport invests in its library
Westport Library spends $246 per resident a year, about six times the typical $40 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.
What’s behind Westport’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Westport is ahead of 88% of U.S. towns, #17 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 →
242 community nonprofits are registered in Westport
8.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 16 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.0%
7.0% of Westport’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 Westport’s residents live; 2022.
About 9 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 Westport last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Westport Library serves 27,470 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 106 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
366K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 111K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.7 times last year, on average.
71,134 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Westport Library, 20 Jesup Road, Westport.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Westport? The Handbook →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 Westport cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $6.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6.8M 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 13,295 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Westport borrows the most per resident of the 5 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westport | Westport Library | 13.3 | 66 | A |
| Fairfield | Fairfield Public Library | 11.0 | 56 | A− |
| Weston | Weston Public Library | 8.4 | 52 | A+ |
| Norwalk | Rowayton Library | 6.4 | 46 | C− |
| Southport | Pequot Library Association | 0.4 | 48 | — graded as part of its town |
| Staples | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Greens Farms | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Saugatuck | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Poplar Plains | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Coleytown | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Old Hill | None of its own | — | — | — 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.
- 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 Westport
Does Westport have a public library?
Yes. Westport Library, 20 Jesup Road, serves Westport’s 27,470 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Westport 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 Westport’s library?
It logged 12.2 visits and lent 13.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Westport’s civic life grade?
A Westport is ahead of 88% of U.S. towns on civic life, #17 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 Westport.
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.