Photo: WikiCapa (Uploads) · Public domainButte-Silver Bow’s library lends 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Butte-Silver Bow Public Library serves 35,133 people in and around Butte-Silver Bow from 2 locations. Last year it lent 68K books, movies and e-books and logged 66K visits.
What stands out about Butte-Silver Bow Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Butte-Silver Bow’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Butte-Silver Bow is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns. Butte-Silver Bow’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($46K–$77K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
151 community nonprofits are registered in Butte-Silver Bow
4.2 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 (30 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.7%
6.7% of Butte-Silver Bow’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.0% in the typical Montana 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 Butte-Silver Bow’s residents live; 2022.
44% of borrowing is digital
68K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
29,573 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Butte-Silver Bow Public Library serves 35,133 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Butte-Silver Bow Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 3 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.
2 places to borrow in Butte-Silver Bow
Butte-Silver Bow Public Library, 226 West Broadway, Butte.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Butte-Silver Bow Public Library branch.
New in Butte-Silver Bow? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Butte-Silver Bow Public Library branches in Butte-Silver Bow
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Butte-Silver Bow cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 14,166 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butte-Silver Bow | Butte-Silver Bow Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | C |
| Anaconda-Deer Lodge County | Hearst Free Library fine-free | — | 44 | B− |
| Dewey | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Wise River | 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.
- System-wide. Butte-Silver Bow Public Library serves 35,133 people in and around Butte-Silver Bow, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Butte-Silver Bow.
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 Butte-Silver Bow
Does Butte-Silver Bow have a public library?
Yes. Butte-Silver Bow Public Library, 226 West Broadway, serves 35,133 people in and around Butte-Silver Bow (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Butte-Silver Bow 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 Butte-Silver Bow’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 1.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Butte-Silver Bow’s civic life grade?
C Butte-Silver Bow is ahead of 32% 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 Butte-Silver Bow.
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.