Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Claremont’s library is a branch of Catawba County Library, which lends less per resident than 59% of systems its size
Claremont’s library is the Claremont Branch Library, a branch of Catawba County Library, which serves 120,898 people and lent 455K items last year.
What stands out about Claremont Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Claremont’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Claremont is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns. Claremont is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Claremont’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($50K–$83K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
4 community nonprofits are registered in Claremont
2.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.5%
4.5% of Claremont’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.2% in the typical North Carolina 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 Claremont’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Catawba County Library serves 120,898 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
A year at Catawba County Library
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Catawba County Library system. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
455K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
126,559 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 16 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
Claremont Branch Library, 3288 E Main St., Claremont.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Catawba County Library branch.
New in Claremont? 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 $2.00 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Claremont cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $3.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.5M 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 16,113 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- System-wide. Claremont Branch Library is one branch of Catawba County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 120,898 people it serves.
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 Claremont
Does Claremont have a public library?
Yes: Claremont Branch Library, 3288 E Main St., is a branch of Catawba County Library, which serves 120,898 people. The branch is open about 28 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Catawba County 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 Claremont’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 3.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Claremont’s civic life grade?
D Claremont is ahead of 6% 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 Claremont.
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.