Photo: Itsa Ortiz · CC BY 2.0Hamilton’s library logs 1.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Bitterroot Public Library serves 27,928 people in and around Hamilton. Last year it lent 147K books, movies and e-books and logged 45K visits.
What stands out about Bitterroot Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Hamilton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Hamilton is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns, #14 of 28 in Montana. Hamilton is graded on two of the three inputs. Hamilton’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 →
44 community nonprofits are registered in Hamilton
8.7 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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.9%
6.9% of Hamilton’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 Hamilton’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Bitterroot Public Library serves 27,928 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 53 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Bitterroot Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
147K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
41,481 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Find it
Bitterroot Public Library, 306 State Street, Hamilton.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Bitterroot Public Library branch.
New in Hamilton? 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 $3.06 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Hamilton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $777K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $777K 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 6,790 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Bitterroot Public Library serves 27,928 people in and around Hamilton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Hamilton.
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 Hamilton
Does Hamilton have a public library?
Yes. Bitterroot Public Library, 306 State Street, serves 27,928 people in and around Hamilton (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bitterroot 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 Hamilton’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 5.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Hamilton’s civic life grade?
B+ Hamilton is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns on civic life, #14 of 28 in Montana. 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 Hamilton.
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.