Third Meetinghouse · Photo: Schlitzer90 · CC0Mattapoisett’s library lends 13 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Mattapoisett Free Public Library serves Mattapoisett’s 6,589 residents. Last year it lent 88K print books and media and logged 57K visits.
The short version on Mattapoisett’s library
Mattapoisett uses its library more than almost any town its size
Mattapoisett Free Public Library logs 8.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, and lends 13 print items per resident against a typical 3.8. On both counts it beats 91% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Mattapoisett out-borrows every town next door
At 13 loans per resident, Mattapoisett leads the four towns here. The closest is Marion, at 6.3. Libraries next door ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 51% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 96% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 42 items per child in Mattapoisett last year. Kids & programs ↓
Top 10% in Massachusetts for kids’ borrowing
Mattapoisett ranks #13 of 268 Massachusetts towns with a library of their own for children’s items borrowed per child. How it compares ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Mattapoisett Free Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
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 Mattapoisett’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Mattapoisett is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns, #84 of 283 in Massachusetts. 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 →
51 community nonprofits are registered in Mattapoisett
7.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.6%
5.6% of Mattapoisett’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 Mattapoisett’s residents live; 2022.
About 2 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 Mattapoisett last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Mattapoisett Free Public Library serves 6,589 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
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
88K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 54K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Mattapoisett Free Public Library, 7 Barstow Street, Mattapoisett.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Mattapoisett? 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 $2.45 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mattapoisett cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $544K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $544K 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 3,891 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Mattapoisett borrows the most per resident of the 4 towns here. 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Mattapoisett Free 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 Mattapoisett
Does Mattapoisett have a public library?
Yes. Mattapoisett Free Public Library, 7 Barstow Street, serves Mattapoisett’s 6,589 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mattapoisett Free 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 Mattapoisett’s library?
It logged 8.6 visits and lent 13.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Mattapoisett’s civic life grade?
A− Mattapoisett is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns on civic life, #84 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 Mattapoisett.
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.