Mars Hill High School · Photo: Warren LeMay from Cincinnati, OH, United States · CC0Mars Hill’s library is a branch of Madison County Public Library, which lends more per resident than 58% of systems its size
Mars Hill’s library is the Mars Hill Branch Library, a branch of Madison County Public Library, which serves 21,753 people and lent 131K items last year.
What stands out about Mars Hill Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Mars Hill’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mars Hill is ahead of 48% of U.S. towns. Mars Hill is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Mars Hill’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Mars Hill
3.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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.
8.8%
8.8% of Mars Hill’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 Mars Hill’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Madison County Public Library serves 21,753 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 18 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Madison County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
131K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
29,873 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 9 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
Mars Hill Branch Library, 25 Library St., Mars Hill.
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 Madison County Public Library branch.
New in Mars Hill? 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 $3.59 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mars Hill cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $632K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $632K 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 8,793 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Mars Hill Branch Library is one branch of Madison County Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 21,753 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 Mars Hill
Does Mars Hill have a public library?
Yes: Mars Hill Branch Library, 25 Library St., is a branch of Madison County Public Library, which serves 21,753 people. The branch is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Madison County Public 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 Mars Hill’s library?
It logged 4.6 visits and lent 6.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Mars Hill’s civic life grade?
B− Mars Hill is ahead of 48% 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 Mars Hill.
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.