Photo: Daderot · CC BY-SA 3.0Easton’s library runs 49 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Ames Free Library of Easton, Inc. serves Easton’s 25,240 residents. Last year it lent 108K print books and media and logged 86K visits.
Easton’s library, in brief
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
59% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 37%. What your card is worth ↓
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Ames Free Library of Easton, Inc. ran 1,237 programs last year, about 24 a week. That’s 49 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Open about 90 hours a week
Ames Free Library of Easton, Inc. is open about 90 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 23 items go out. The building ↓
Programs lean toward adults
70% of the 1,237 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 279 were for children. 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 Easton’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Easton is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns, #104 of 283 in Massachusetts. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
111 community nonprofits are registered in Easton
4.4 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 (15 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
10.2%
10.2% of Easton’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 Easton’s residents live; 2022.
About 5 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 Easton last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Ames Free Library of Easton, Inc. serves 25,240 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 23 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
108K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 52K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.1 times last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Ames Free Library of Easton, Inc., 53 Main St., North Easton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Easton? 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 $1.25 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Easton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.4M 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 10,358 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Easton ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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.
- 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 Easton
Does Easton have a public library?
Yes. Ames Free Library of Easton, Inc., 53 Main St., serves Easton’s 25,240 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 90 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ames Free Library of Easton, Inc. 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 Easton’s library?
It logged 3.4 visits and lent 4.3 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Easton’s civic life grade?
B+ Easton is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns on civic life, #104 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 Easton.
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.