Photo: J.B. Chandler · CC BY-SA 3.0Fort Benton’s library runs 145 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Chouteau County Library serves 5,895 people in and around Fort Benton. Last year it lent 29K books, movies and e-books and logged 22K visits.
What stands out about Chouteau County Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Fort Benton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Fort Benton is among the top 1% of U.S. towns. Fort Benton is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Fort Benton near the top nationally; Fort Benton’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 Fort Benton
24.4 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.
12.4%
12.4% of Fort Benton’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 Fort Benton’s residents live; 2022.
About 7 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.
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.
Chouteau County Library serves 5,895 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Chouteau County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
29K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,240 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
Find it
Chouteau County Library, 1518 Main, Fort Benton.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Chouteau County Library branch.
New in Fort Benton? 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 $1.71 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fort Benton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $310K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $529K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $310K 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 1,761 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Chouteau County Library serves 5,895 people in and around Fort Benton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Fort Benton.
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 Fort Benton
Does Fort Benton have a public library?
Yes. Chouteau County Library, 1518 Main, serves 5,895 people in and around Fort Benton (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Chouteau 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 Fort Benton’s library?
It logged 3.7 visits and lent 4.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Fort Benton’s civic life grade?
A+ Fort Benton is among the top 1% 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 Fort Benton.
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.