Photo: sporst · CC BY 2.0Blackfoot’s library logs 8.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Blackfoot Public serves 13,207 people in and around Blackfoot. Last year it lent 147K books, movies and e-books and logged 114K visits.
What Blackfoot’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
51% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 49%. What your card is worth ↓
Visits are the system’s strong suit
Blackfoot Public logs 8.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 94% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 7.9 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Blackfoot Public offered 108 programs last year, 8.2 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.3 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 90% of similar-size libraries. It’s 29% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Kids’ borrowing is a standout
Children’s books and media are 54% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 86% of similar-size libraries. 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; Blackfoot Public serves 13,207 people in and around Blackfoot, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Blackfoot’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Blackfoot is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns, #29 of 54 in Idaho. Library visits hold the grade up; Blackfoot’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 →
30 community nonprofits are registered in Blackfoot
2.3 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.5%
7.5% of Blackfoot’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.7% in the typical Idaho 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 Blackfoot’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 64 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Blackfoot Public system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Blackfoot Public serves 13,207 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
147K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
43,018 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
Blackfoot Public, 129 N Broadway, Blackfoot.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Blackfoot Public branch.
New in Blackfoot? 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 $3.67 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Blackfoot cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $590K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $590K 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 7,024 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Blackfoot Public serves 13,207 people in and around Blackfoot, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Blackfoot.
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 Blackfoot
Does Blackfoot have a public library?
Yes. Blackfoot Public, 129 N Broadway, serves 13,207 people in and around Blackfoot (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Blackfoot Public 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 Blackfoot’s library?
It logged 8.6 visits and lent 11.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Blackfoot’s civic life grade?
B Blackfoot is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns on civic life, #29 of 54 in Idaho. 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 Blackfoot.
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.