Photo: Seasider53 · CC BY 4.0Freeport’s library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Freeport Community Library serves Freeport’s 8,781 residents. Last year it lent 104K books, movies and e-books and logged 59K visits.
What Freeport’s library is like
Freeport uses its library more than almost any town its size
Freeport Community Library logs 6.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, and lends 10 print items per resident against a typical 3.8. On both counts it beats 85% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Top 10% in Maine for borrowing
Freeport ranks #4 of 98 Maine towns with a library of their own for items borrowed per resident. Print borrowing alone runs 10 items per resident, more than at 91% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 54% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 92% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 28 items per child in Freeport last year. Kids & programs ↓
A place to get online
Freeport Community Library logs about 216 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 8 public computers. That’s 9 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
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 Freeport’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Freeport is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns, #8 of 143 in Maine. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
60 community nonprofits are registered in Freeport
6.8 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
21.3%
21.3% of Freeport’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 Freeport’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Freeport Community Library serves 8,781 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 50 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
104K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 58K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 times last year, on average.
16,968 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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 Freeport last year.
Find it
Freeport Community Library, 10 Library Drive, Freeport.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Freeport? 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 $2.77 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Freeport cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $654K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.8M 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 4,669 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Freeport ranks 2nd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chebeague Island | Chebeague Island Library fine-free | 13.7 | 26 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Freeport | Freeport Community Library fine-free | 11.9 | 40 | A+ |
| Brunswick | Curtis Memorial Library fine-free | 11.3 | 61 | A+ |
| Yarmouth | Merrill Memorial Library fine-free | 9.9 | 43 | A+ |
| Harpswell | Orrs Island Library fine-free | 0.5 | 20 | B− |
| Pownal | None of its own | — | — | A |
| Durham | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Freeport
Does Freeport have a public library?
Yes. Freeport Community Library, 10 Library Drive, serves Freeport’s 8,781 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Freeport Community 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 Freeport’s library?
It logged 6.7 visits and lent 11.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Freeport’s civic life grade?
A+ Freeport is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns on civic life, #8 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 Freeport.
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.