Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Caribou’s library logs 4.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Caribou Public Library serves 7,431 people in and around Caribou. Last year it lent 23K print books and media and logged 35K visits.
What’s behind Caribou’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Caribou is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns, #82 of 143 in Maine. Caribou’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 →
42 community nonprofits are registered in Caribou
5.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.9%
4.9% of Caribou’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.0% in the typical Maine 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 Caribou’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Caribou Public Library serves 7,431 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Caribou Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
23K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
47 programs a year
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
Caribou Public Library, 30 High Street, Caribou.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Caribou Public Library branch.
New in Caribou? 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 $1.50 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Caribou cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $253K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $380K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $253K 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 4,347 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limestone | Robert A. Frost Memorial Library | 5.8 | 31 | B |
| Presque Isle | Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library fine-free | 3.1 | 54 | B+ |
| Fort Fairfield | Fort Fairfield Public Library fine-free | 1.0 | 21 | C |
| Caribou | Caribou Public Library | — | 39 | B− |
| Woodland | None of its own | — | — | D− |
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. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Caribou Public Library serves 7,431 people in and around Caribou, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Caribou.
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 Caribou
Does Caribou have a public library?
Yes. Caribou Public Library, 30 High Street, serves 7,431 people in and around Caribou (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Caribou 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 Caribou’s library?
It logged 4.7 visits and lent 3.1 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Caribou’s civic life grade?
B− Caribou is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns on civic life, #82 of 143 in Maine. 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 Caribou.
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.