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US Post Office Perryville MD Apr 10Photo: Pubdog at en.wikipedia · Public domain
Perryville Branch · part of Cecil County Public Library

Perryville’s library is a branch of Cecil County Public Library, which lends more per resident than 81% of systems its size

Perryville’s library is the Perryville Branch, a branch of Cecil County Public Library, which serves 103,905 people and lent 834K items last year.

500 Coudon Boulevard, Perryville 21903 · about 47 hours a week
B+Civic lifeAhead of 67% of U.S. towns · #18 of 67 in Maryland. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Directions (410) 996-6070 What’s a card worth?
Borrowed a year
834K
8 per resident
Visits a year
288K
2.8 per resident · Above typical (2.1)
Programs & events
1,184
about 23 a week · 27K attended
Cardholders
55%
57,547 cards
Open
47 hrs
a week at this branch
In brief

The short version on Perryville’s library

Above typical on every measure

Against libraries serving 100,000+ people, the Cecil County Public Library system is above the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, with four in the top 30%. No single number stands out, and none lags far behind. How it compares ↓

A well-funded system

The Cecil County Public Library system spends $79 per resident a year, about twice the typical $36 for a library its size. 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; Perryville’s library is a branch of Cecil County Public Library, so they cover the whole system (103,905 people), not just the Perryville branch.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Perryville’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Perryville is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #18 of 67 in Maryland. Perryville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.

B+
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Perryville’s overall grade.
–Library visitsServed by a county or regional system, so there is no town figureBCommunity nonprofits4.1 per 1,000 residents · MD towns 4.1 · U.S. 3.7B+Volunteering8.8% of adults 25–44 · MD towns 6.2% · U.S. 7.5%
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 67%
FewerMore
Maryland towns we grade (67)Ahead of 74%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $58K–$97K (9,229)Ahead of 66%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Perryville is small (4,592 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

18 community nonprofits are registered in Perryville

4.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture10.22 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation61.35 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans30.67 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services40.90 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education20.45 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health10.22 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other10.22 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

8.8%

8.8% of Perryville’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.2% in the typical Maryland 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 Perryville’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · What people borrow

Almost half the print loans are kids’ books

834K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

834Kloans
Books & media (adults) 41%Kids’ books & media 38%E-books, audio & streaming 20%
From your couch

167,885 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 2.8 visits · typical 2.1Higher than 72%
Borrowing per resident 6.4 print items · typical 3.2Higher than 81%
Digital borrowing 1.6 e-items · typical 1.4Higher than 55%
Kids’ borrowing 3.1 kids’ items · typical 1.6Higher than 79%
Program attendance 0.3 attendees · typical 0.2Higher than 60%
Programs offered 11.4 per 1,000 residents · typical 9Higher than 60%
Cardholders 55% of residents · typical 41%Higher than 74%
Spending $79 per resident · typical $36Higher than 88%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Cecil County Public Library serves 103,905 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 69 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Cecil County Public Library system. The library’s own count.

288K
visits
2.8 per resident
834K
loans, print + digital
8 per resident
1,184
programs & events
27K attended
58K
library cards
55% of people served
Every open hour69items borrowed
Every week510people at a program
Every day271Wi-Fi sessions
82 staff (full-time equivalent)122 public computers
Kids & programs

About 13 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Perryville →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5341
Ages 6–11310
Teens299
Adults226
All ages8
Little ones
6.6

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

320K
kids’ books & media borrowed
27K
people at programs
1,184
programs
The building

Find it

Perryville Branch, 500 Coudon Boulevard, Perryville.

Directions(410) 996-6070
47
hours open a week
15,100
square feet
With a card

No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Cecil County Public Library branch.

New in Perryville? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.55 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Perryville cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$79 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $8.3M.

Local taxes 79%State 17%Federal 0%Gifts & other 4%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $13M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $8.3M 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 57,547 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Perryville Branch is one branch of Cecil County Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 103,905 people it serves.

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 Perryville

Does Perryville have a public library?

Yes: Perryville Branch, 500 Coudon Boulevard, is a branch of Cecil County Public Library, which serves 103,905 people. The branch is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Cecil County 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 Perryville’s library?

It logged 2.8 visits and lent 8.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.

What is Perryville’s civic life grade?

B+ Perryville is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on civic life, #18 of 67 in Maryland. 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 Perryville.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.