Pittsville’s library is a branch of Wicomico County Free Library, which lends less per resident than 59% of systems its size
Pittsville’s library is the Pittsville Branch, a branch of Wicomico County Free Library, which serves 103,980 people and lent 392K items last year.
What Pittsville’s library is like
Maryland pays a big share
40% of the budget comes from the state, and 47% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
82% of the people it serves carry a library card
85,106 cards for 103,980 people, or 82%. At the typical library serving 100,000+ people, it’s 41%. How it compares ↓
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; Pittsville’s library is a branch of Wicomico County Free Library, so they cover the whole system (103,980 people), not just the Pittsville branch.
What’s behind Pittsville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Pittsville is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns. Pittsville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Pittsville’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Pittsville
5.6 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.
9.1%
9.1% of Pittsville’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 Pittsville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Wicomico County Free Library serves 103,980 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 41 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Wicomico County Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
392K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
109,734 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 9 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
Pittsville Branch, 34372 Old Ocean City Rd, Pittsville.
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 Wicomico County Free Library branch.
New in Pittsville? 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 $2.14 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pittsville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $3.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.1M 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 85,106 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Pittsville Branch is one branch of Wicomico County Free Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 103,980 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 Pittsville
Does Pittsville have a public library?
Yes: Pittsville Branch, 34372 Old Ocean City Rd, is a branch of Wicomico County Free Library, which serves 103,980 people. The branch is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wicomico County Free 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 Pittsville’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 3.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Pittsville’s civic life grade?
A− Pittsville is ahead of 84% 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 Pittsville.
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.