Photo: Tracey Elizabeth · CC BY 2.0Helena’s library logs 3.4 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Lewis and Clark Library serves 70,973 people in and around Helena. Last year it lent 423K books, movies and e-books and logged 238K visits.
What stands out about Lewis and Clark Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Helena’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Helena is ahead of 93% of U.S. towns, #8 of 28 in Montana. Helena is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Helena’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 →
428 community nonprofits are registered in Helena
12.7 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 (59 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 11 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.9%
8.9% of Helena’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 Helena’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Lewis and Clark Library serves 70,973 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 49 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lewis and Clark Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
423K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
134,591 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 8 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
Lewis and Clark Library, 120 South Last Chance Gulch, Helena.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lewis and Clark Library branch.
New in Helena? 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 $1.72 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Helena cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $7.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.2M 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 25,017 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helena | Lewis and Clark Library fine-free | — | 62 | A |
| East Helena | Lewis and Clark Library East Helena Branch fine-free | — | 32 | B+ |
| Helena Valley West Central | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Helena West Side | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Helena Valley Southeast | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Helena Valley Northeast | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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. Lewis and Clark Library serves 70,973 people in and around Helena, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Helena.
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 Helena
Does Helena have a public library?
Yes. Lewis and Clark Library, 120 South Last Chance Gulch, serves 70,973 people in and around Helena (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lewis and Clark 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 Helena’s library?
It logged 3.4 visits and lent 6.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Helena’s civic life grade?
A Helena is ahead of 93% of U.S. towns on civic life, #8 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 Helena.
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.