Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Billerica’s library lends 5.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Billerica Public Library serves Billerica’s 41,319 residents. Last year it lent 245K print books and media and logged 108K visits.
The short version on Billerica’s library
Every town next door borrows more
Billerica’s library lends 5.9 items per resident. Each of the five neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Bedford at 17. Libraries next door ↓
A place to get online
Billerica Public Library logs about 615 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 22 public computers. That’s 5.4 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
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 Billerica’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Billerica is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns, #251 of 283 in Massachusetts. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Billerica’s 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($111K–$185K) 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 →
108 community nonprofits are registered in Billerica
2.6 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 (23 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 8 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.9%
5.9% of Billerica’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.9% in the typical Massachusetts 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 Billerica’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Billerica Public Library serves 41,319 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 77 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
245K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 109K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.3 times last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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 Billerica last year.
Find it
Billerica Public Library, 15 Concord Rd., Billerica.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Billerica? 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 $2.03 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Billerica cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.2M budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 14,521 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Billerica ranks 6th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedford | Bedford Free Public Library fine-free | 16.9 | 64 | A |
| Carlisle | Gleason Public Library fine-free | 16.7 | 52 | A+ |
| Chelmsford | Chelmsford Public Library fine-free | 10.9 | 72 | A− |
| Burlington | Burlington Public Library fine-free | 8.2 | 58 | C+ |
| Wilmington | Wilmington Memorial Library fine-free | 6.2 | 58 | B |
| Billerica | Billerica Public Library fine-free | 5.9 | 61 | C− |
| Pinehurst | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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. Billerica Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. Massachusetts libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Billerica
Does Billerica have a public library?
Yes. Billerica Public Library, 15 Concord Rd., serves Billerica’s 41,319 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Billerica Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Billerica’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 5.9 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Billerica’s civic life grade?
C− Billerica is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns on civic life, #251 of 283 in Massachusetts. 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 Billerica.
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.