Longyear, E. J., First Diamond Drill Site · Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 4.0Hoyt Lakes’ library logs 6.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Hoyt Lakes Public Library serves Hoyt Lakes’s 1,997 residents. Last year it lent 11K books, movies and e-books and logged 14K visits.
Hoyt Lakes’s library, in brief
A small-town library
Hoyt Lakes Public Library serves 1,997 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 33 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Hoyt Lakes invests in its library
Hoyt Lakes Public Library spends $108 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 for a library its size. Almost all of it (97%) comes from local taxes. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Hoyt Lakes’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Hoyt Lakes is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns. Library visits hold 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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Hoyt Lakes
3.4 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.2%
6.2% of Hoyt Lakes’ Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.4% in the typical Minnesota 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 Hoyt Lakes’ residents live; 2022.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Hoyt Lakes cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $216K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $191K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $216K 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 685 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Hoyt Lakes Public Library serves 1,997 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
11K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 14K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
1,279 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
88 programs a year
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 Hoyt Lakes last year.
Find it
Hoyt Lakes Public Library, 206 Kennedy Memorial Dr, Hoyt Lakes.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Hoyt Lakes? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Libraries next door
Hoyt Lakes ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White Township | Aurora Public Library | 10.6 | 37 | B |
| Babbitt | Babbitt Public Library | 8.9 | 36 | B+ |
| Hoyt Lakes | Hoyt Lakes Public Library fine-free | 5.3 | 33 | B− |
| Waasa Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Bassett Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 are a typical-week estimate. Hoyt Lakes Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Hoyt Lakes
Does Hoyt Lakes have a public library?
Yes. Hoyt Lakes Public Library, 206 Kennedy Memorial Dr, serves Hoyt Lakes’ 1,997 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 33 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Hoyt Lakes 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 Hoyt Lakes’ library?
It logged 6.9 visits and lent 5.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Hoyt Lakes’ civic life grade?
B− Hoyt Lakes is ahead of 53% 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 Hoyt Lakes.
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.