Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 3.0Moultrie’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System serves 46,366 people in and around Moultrie. Last year it lent 75K books, movies and e-books and logged 47K visits.
Moultrie’s library, in brief
Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System is used less than most libraries its size
Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 1.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $16 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 77% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 68% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. What people borrow ↓
Most programs are for young children
79% of the 272 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 3 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Georgia pays a big share
28% of the budget comes from the state, and 58% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System offered 272 programs last year, 5.9 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. 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; Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System serves 46,366 people in and around Moultrie, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Moultrie’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Moultrie is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns, #113 of 222 in Georgia. Moultrie is graded on two of the three inputs. Moultrie’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System spends $16 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($33K–$55K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
56 community nonprofits are registered in Moultrie
3.8 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 (30 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
2.7%
2.7% of Moultrie’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.9% in the typical Georgia 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 Moultrie’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System serves 46,366 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
75K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
14,094 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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
Moultrie-Colquitt County Library, 204 5th Street SE, Moultrie.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System branch.
New in Moultrie? 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 $1.72 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Moultrie cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $754K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $754K 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 11,275 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System serves 46,366 people in and around Moultrie, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Moultrie.
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 Moultrie
Does Moultrie have a public library?
Yes. Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System, 204 5th Street SE, serves 46,366 people in and around Moultrie (the survey’s count) and is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System 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 Moultrie’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 1.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Moultrie’s civic life grade?
C− Moultrie is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns on civic life, #113 of 222 in Georgia. 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 Moultrie.
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.