Photo: Tamanoeconomico · CC BY-SA 4.0Wilder’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Wilder District serves 3,555 people in and around Wilder. Last year it lent 7,098 books, movies and e-books and logged 4,217 visits.
What stands out about Wilder District
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Wilder’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Wilder is ahead of 42% of U.S. towns. Wilder is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Wilder’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($41K–$69K) 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 →
Wilder has few registered community nonprofits
0.6 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
11.8%
11.8% of Wilder’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 Wilder’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Wilder District serves 3,555 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Wilder District system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
7,098 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
974 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
41 programs a year
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
Wilder District, 111 2nd St., Wilder.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Wilder District branch.
New in Wilder? 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 Wilder cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $162K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $119K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $162K 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 2,646 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Wilder District serves 3,555 people in and around Wilder, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Wilder.
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 Wilder
Does Wilder have a public library?
Yes. Wilder District, 111 2nd St., serves 3,555 people in and around Wilder (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wilder District 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 Wilder’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 2.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Wilder’s civic life grade?
C+ Wilder is ahead of 42% 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 Wilder.
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.