Photo: Ken Lund · CC BY-SA 2.0Sugar City’s library logs 15 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Sugar Salem School/Community serves 6,083 people in and around Sugar City. Last year it lent 50K books, movies and e-books and logged 94K visits.
Sugar City’s library, in brief
Busy on a lean budget
Sugar Salem School/Community spends $9 per resident, less than 96% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). It’s still busier than 91% of them. What your card is worth ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 73% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
More library cards than residents
6,297 cards for 6,083 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
Visits are the system’s strong suit
Sugar Salem School/Community logs 15 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 98% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 7.6 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 7% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 67% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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; Sugar Salem School/Community serves 6,083 people in and around Sugar City, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Sugar City’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Sugar City is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns. Sugar City is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Sugar City’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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Sugar City
2.5 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
13.2%
13.2% of Sugar City’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 Sugar City’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 23 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Sugar Salem School/Community system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Sugar Salem School/Community serves 6,083 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
50K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,419 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
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
Sugar Salem School/Community, 1 Digger Dr, Sugar City.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Sugar Salem School/Community branch.
New in Sugar City? 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 $13.36 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sugar City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $54K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $716K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $54K 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 6,297 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar City | Sugar Salem School/Community | — | 41 | B |
| Rexburg | Madison Library District | — | 61 | B |
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.
- Visits count everyone. Sugar City’s 93,623 visits include people from nearby towns and summer visitors; the survey has no resident share.
- System-wide. Sugar Salem School/Community serves 6,083 people in and around Sugar City, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Sugar City.
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 Sugar City
Does Sugar City have a public library?
Yes. Sugar Salem School/Community, 1 Digger Dr, serves 6,083 people in and around Sugar City (the survey’s count) and is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sugar Salem School/Community 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 Sugar City’s library?
It logged 15.4 visits and lent 8.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Sugar City’s civic life grade?
B Sugar City is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Sugar City.
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.