Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Livingston’s library runs 33 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Livingston-Park County Public Library serves 17,191 people in and around Livingston. Last year it lent 81K books, movies and e-books and logged 61K visits.
What stands out about Livingston-Park County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Livingston’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Livingston is among the top 1% of U.S. towns, #1 of 28 in Montana. Livingston is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Livingston near the top nationally; Livingston’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 →
123 community nonprofits are registered in Livingston
14.0 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 (18 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
14.7%
14.7% of Livingston’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 Livingston’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Livingston-Park County Public Library serves 17,191 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 26 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Livingston-Park County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
81K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
25,488 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 10 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
Livingston-Park County Public Library, 228 West Callender Street, Livingston.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Livingston-Park County Public Library branch.
New in Livingston? 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 $1.74 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Livingston cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $729K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $729K 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 4,691 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Livingston-Park County Public Library serves 17,191 people in and around Livingston, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Livingston.
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 Livingston
Does Livingston have a public library?
Yes. Livingston-Park County Public Library, 228 West Callender Street, serves 17,191 people in and around Livingston (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Livingston-Park County 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 Livingston’s library?
It logged 3.5 visits and lent 4.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Livingston’s civic life grade?
A+ Livingston is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life, #1 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 Livingston.
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.