Truro Highlands Historic District · Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0Truro’s library logs 24 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Truro Public Library serves Truro’s 2,486 residents. Last year it lent 48K print books and media and logged 59K visits.
The short version on Truro’s library
More library cards than residents
3,780 cards for 2,486 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Truro uses its library more than almost any town its size
Truro Public Library logs 24 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, and lends 19 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 97% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 30% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 91% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 80 items per child in Truro last year. Kids & programs ↓
Truro invests in its library
Truro Public Library spends $263 per resident a year, about five times the typical $54 for a library its size. Almost all of it (94%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Programs draw a crowd
7,852 people came to the library’s 392 programs last year: 3.2 per resident, against a typical 0.7, more than at 93% of similar-size libraries. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Truro’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Truro is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns. Truro is graded on two of the three inputs. Truro’s count of community nonprofits holds 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 →
28 community nonprofits are registered in Truro
16.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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.
7.0%
7.0% of Truro’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 Truro’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 25 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Truro Public Library serves 2,486 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Books and media off the shelf
48K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 43K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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 Truro last year.
Find it
Truro Public Library, 7 Standish Way, North Truro.
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 Truro? 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 $1.29 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Truro cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $654K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $845K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $654K 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 3,780 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Truro borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Truro | Truro Public Library fine-free | 19.5 | 37 | A− |
| Wellfleet | Wellfleet Public Library fine-free | 14.3 | 41 | A+ |
| Provincetown | Provincetown Public Library fine-free | 3.7 | 50 | A+ |
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 count everyone. Truro’s 59,130 visits include people from nearby towns and summer visitors; the survey has no resident share.
- 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 Truro
Does Truro have a public library?
Yes. Truro Public Library, 7 Standish Way, serves Truro’s 2,486 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Truro 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 Truro’s library?
It logged 23.8 visits and lent 19.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Truro’s civic life grade?
A− Truro is ahead of 80% 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 Truro.
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.