Photo: Stevedrone91 · CC BY-SA 4.0Freeport’s library logs 4.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Freeport Public Library serves Freeport’s 23,973 residents. Last year it lent 124K books, movies and e-books and logged 105K visits.
What Freeport’s library is like
Few residents carry a card
Only 18% of the people Freeport Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
Most programs are for young children
71% of the 433 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.7 a week for ages 0–5. 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.
What’s behind Freeport’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Freeport is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns, #351 of 754 in Illinois. 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 →
106 community nonprofits are registered in Freeport
4.5 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 (25 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.
5.2%
5.2% of Freeport’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.1% in the typical Illinois 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 Freeport’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Freeport Public Library serves 23,973 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 41 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
124K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 105K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
16,047 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 6 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 Freeport last year.
Find it
Freeport Public Library, 100 East Douglas Street, Freeport.
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 $1.69 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Freeport cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 4,306 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freeport | Freeport Public Library | 5.2 | 58 | B− |
| Freeport Township | Freeport Public Library | 5.2 | 58 | — graded with its twin city |
| Lancaster Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Florence Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Harlem Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Silver Creek Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 are a typical-week estimate. Freeport Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Freeport
Does Freeport have a public library?
Yes. Freeport Public Library, 100 East Douglas Street, serves Freeport’s 23,973 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Freeport Public 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 Freeport’s library?
It logged 4.4 visits and lent 5.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Freeport’s civic life grade?
B− Freeport is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns on civic life, #351 of 754 in Illinois. 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 Freeport.
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.