Three Forks of the Missouri · Photo: Mike Cline · Public domainThree Forks’ library logs 5.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Three Forks Community Library serves 4,776 people in and around Three Forks. Last year it lent 34K books, movies and e-books and logged 24K visits.
What Three Forks’s library is like
Busy on a lean budget
Three Forks Community Library spends $29 per resident, less than 72% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). It’s still busier than 75% of them. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 58% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 83% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; Three Forks Community Library serves 4,776 people in and around Three Forks, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Three Forks’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Three Forks is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns. Three Forks is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Three Forks’ 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 →
16 community nonprofits are registered in Three Forks
8.2 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.8%
10.8% of Three Forks’ 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 Three Forks’ residents live; 2022.
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.
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.
Three Forks Community Library serves 4,776 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 Three Forks Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
34K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
4,452 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
Find it
Three Forks Community Library, 607 Main St., Three Forks.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Good at every Three Forks Community Library branch.
New in Three Forks? 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 $3.70 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Three Forks cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $138K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $512K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $138K 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 1,156 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Three Forks Community Library serves 4,776 people in and around Three Forks, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Three Forks.
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 Three Forks
Does Three Forks have a public library?
Yes. Three Forks Community Library, 607 Main St., serves 4,776 people in and around Three Forks (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Three Forks Community 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 Three Forks’ library?
It logged 5.1 visits and lent 7.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Three Forks’ civic life grade?
A+ Three Forks is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Three Forks.
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.