Photo: Montanabw · CC BY-SA 3.0Polson’s library runs 29 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
North Lake County Public Library serves 12,688 people in and around Polson. Last year it lent 63K books, movies and e-books and logged 37K visits.
What stands out about North Lake County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Polson’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Polson is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns, #21 of 28 in Montana. Polson is graded on two of the three inputs. Polson’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 →
42 community nonprofits are registered in Polson
7.8 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 (6 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.
6.3%
6.3% of Polson’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 Polson’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.
North Lake County Public Library serves 12,688 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 27 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole North Lake County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
63K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
23,325 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 6 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
North Lake County Public Library, 102 1st Street East, Polson.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every North Lake County Public Library branch.
New in Polson? 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 $1.56 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Polson cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $694K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $694K 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 5,028 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.
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. North Lake County Public Library serves 12,688 people in and around Polson, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Polson.
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 Polson
Does Polson have a public library?
Yes. North Lake County Public Library, 102 1st Street East, serves 12,688 people in and around Polson (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is North Lake 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 Polson’s library?
It logged 2.9 visits and lent 4.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Polson’s civic life grade?
B+ Polson is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns on civic life, #21 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 Polson.
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.