Photo: User:Velela · Public domainRed Lodge’s library lends 2.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Red Lodge Carnegie Library serves 5,425 people in and around Red Lodge. Last year it lent 26K books, movies and e-books and logged 12K visits.
What stands out about Red Lodge Carnegie Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Red Lodge’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Red Lodge is among the top 1% of U.S. towns, #3 of 28 in Montana. Red Lodge is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Red Lodge’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 →
45 community nonprofits are registered in Red Lodge
18.0 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. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
11.5%
11.5% of Red Lodge’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 Red Lodge’s residents live; 2022.
42% of borrowing is digital
26K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
10,907 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Red Lodge Carnegie Library serves 5,425 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Red Lodge Carnegie Library system. The library’s own count.
About 2 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
Red Lodge Carnegie Library, 3 West 8th Street, Red Lodge.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Red Lodge Carnegie Library branch.
New in Red Lodge? 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 Red Lodge cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $237K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $413K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $237K 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 2,675 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Red Lodge Carnegie Library serves 5,425 people in and around Red Lodge, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Red Lodge.
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 Red Lodge
Does Red Lodge have a public library?
Yes. Red Lodge Carnegie Library, 3 West 8th Street, serves 5,425 people in and around Red Lodge (the survey’s count) and is open about 34 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Red Lodge Carnegie 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 Red Lodge’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 4.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Red Lodge’s civic life grade?
A+ Red Lodge is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life, #3 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 Red Lodge.
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.