Photo: Ben Franske · CC BY-SA 4.0Perham’s library logs 5.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Perham Area Public Library serves 6,971 people in and around Perham. Last year it lent 53K books, movies and e-books and logged 36K visits.
What stands out about Perham Area Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Perham’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Perham is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns, #130 of 271 in Minnesota. Perham is graded on two of the three inputs. Perham’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 →
18 community nonprofits are registered in Perham
5.1 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.5%
6.5% of Perham’s 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 Perham’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Perham Area Public Library serves 6,971 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 22 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Perham Area Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
53K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
10,319 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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
Perham Area Public Library, 225 2nd Av NE, Perham.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Perham Area Public Library branch.
New in Perham? 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 $2.71 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Perham cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $298K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $809K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $298K 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 4,823 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Perham Area Public Library serves 6,971 people in and around Perham, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Perham.
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 Perham
Does Perham have a public library?
Yes. Perham Area Public Library, 225 2nd Av NE, serves 6,971 people in and around Perham (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Perham Area 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 Perham’s library?
It logged 5.1 visits and lent 7.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Perham’s civic life grade?
B− Perham is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns on civic life, #130 of 271 in Minnesota. 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 Perham.
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.