Photo: Sam Beebe · CC BY 2.0Choteau’s library logs 3.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Choteau/Teton Public Library serves 2,892 people in and around Choteau. Last year it lent 19K books, movies and e-books and logged 11K visits.
What stands out about Choteau/Teton Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Choteau’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Choteau is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. Choteau is graded on two of the three inputs. Choteau’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 →
38 community nonprofits are registered in Choteau
25.7 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.9%
5.9% of Choteau’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 Choteau’s residents live; 2022.
42% of borrowing is digital
19K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
8,070 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Choteau/Teton Public Library serves 2,892 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 Choteau/Teton Public Library system. The library’s own count.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Find it
Choteau/Teton Public Library, 17 Main Avenue North, Choteau.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Choteau/Teton Public Library branch.
New in Choteau? 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 $4.16 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Choteau cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $69K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $288K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $69K 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 1,376 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Choteau/Teton Public Library serves 2,892 people in and around Choteau, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Choteau.
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 Choteau
Does Choteau have a public library?
Yes. Choteau/Teton Public Library, 17 Main Avenue North, serves 2,892 people in and around Choteau (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Choteau/Teton Public 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 Choteau’s library?
It logged 3.9 visits and lent 6.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Choteau’s civic life grade?
B+ Choteau is ahead of 70% 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 Choteau.
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.