Photo: J.B. Chandler · CC BY-SA 3.0Chinook’s library runs 61 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Blaine County Library serves 4,290 people in and around Chinook. Last year it lent 16K books, movies and e-books and logged 7,704 visits.
What Chinook’s library is like
Most programs are for young children
76% of the 263 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.1 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 69% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 61% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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; Blaine County Library serves 4,290 people in and around Chinook, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Chinook’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Chinook is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns. Chinook is graded on two of the three inputs. Chinook’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 →
36 community nonprofits are registered in Chinook
26.6 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.3%
7.3% of Chinook’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 Chinook’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Blaine County Library serves 4,290 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Blaine County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
16K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,487 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 4 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
Blaine County Library, 112 4th St. West, Chinook.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Good at every Blaine County Library branch.
New in Chinook? 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 $3.35 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Chinook cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $166K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $554K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $166K 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 1,169 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Blaine County Library serves 4,290 people in and around Chinook, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Chinook.
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 Chinook
Does Chinook have a public library?
Yes. Blaine County Library, 112 4th St. West, serves 4,290 people in and around Chinook (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Blaine County Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Chinook’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 3.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Chinook’s civic life grade?
A− Chinook is ahead of 83% 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 Chinook.
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.