Photo: Matt Zimmerman · CC BY 2.0Carrington’s library lends 9.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Carrington City Library serves Carrington’s 2,080 residents. Last year it lent 26K books, movies and e-books and logged 14K visits.
What Carrington’s library is like
Busy on a lean budget
Carrington City Library spends $38 per resident, less than 71% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). It’s still busier than 82% of them. What your card is worth ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 59% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 91% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 24 items per child in Carrington last year. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Carrington City Library serves 2,080 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 31 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Most programs are for young children
77% of the 234 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.1 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
25% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 39%. What your card is worth ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Carrington’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Carrington is ahead of 68% of U.S. towns. Carrington’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 →
33 community nonprofits are registered in Carrington
15.2 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
2.4%
2.4% of Carrington’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.9% in the typical North Dakota 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 Carrington’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Carrington last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Carrington City Library serves 2,080 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
26K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 18K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
5,412 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Carrington City Library, 87 8th Ave N, Carrington.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Carrington? 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 $5.86 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Carrington cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $79K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $460K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $79K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 833 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.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrington | Carrington City Library | 12.4 | 31 | B+ |
| Carrington Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Wyard Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Carrington
Does Carrington have a public library?
Yes. Carrington City Library, 87 8th Ave N, serves Carrington’s 2,080 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 31 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Carrington City Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Carrington’s library?
It logged 6.7 visits and lent 12.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Carrington’s civic life grade?
B+ Carrington is ahead of 68% 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 Carrington.
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.