Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Manchester’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Manchester City Library serves Manchester’s 116,161 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 299K books, movies and e-books and logged 148K visits.
What Manchester’s library is like
Every town next door borrows more
Manchester’s library lends 2.6 items per resident. Each of the seven neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Bedford at 15. Libraries next door ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Manchester City Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Six of the seven libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Manchester City Library offered 496 programs last year, 4.3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 9. Kids & programs ↓
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.
What’s behind Manchester’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Manchester is ahead of 21% of U.S. towns, #117 of 126 in New Hampshire. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #208. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Manchester’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($61K–$101K) 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 →
425 community nonprofits are registered in Manchester
3.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (96 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 18 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.4%
6.4% of Manchester’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.9% in the typical New Hampshire 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 Manchester’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.
Manchester City Library serves 116,161 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 83 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
299K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 145K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 times last year, on average.
77,965 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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 Manchester last year.
2 places to borrow in Manchester
Manchester City Library, 405 Pine Street, Manchester.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Manchester? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Manchester
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.32 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Manchester cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $3.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.5M 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 58,193 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Manchester ranks 8th of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedford | Bedford Public Library fine-free | 15.4 | 58 | B+ |
| Hooksett | Hooksett Public Library fine-free | 12.6 | 31 | B |
| Merrimack | Merrimack Public Library fine-free | 8.1 | 57 | C |
| Londonderry | Leach Library | 6.9 | 54 | C+ |
| Auburn | Griffin Free Public Library fine-free | 5.6 | 34 | C |
| Goffstown | Goffstown Public Library fine-free | 5.3 | 51 | C+ |
| Litchfield | Aaron Cutler Memorial Library fine-free | 5.0 | 37 | B− |
| Manchester | Manchester City Library | 2.6 | 50 | C− |
| South Hooksett | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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 Manchester
Does Manchester have a public library?
Yes. Manchester City Library, 405 Pine Street, serves Manchester’s 116,161 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Manchester 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 Manchester’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Manchester’s civic life grade?
C− Manchester is ahead of 21% of U.S. towns on civic life, #117 of 126 in New Hampshire. 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 Manchester.
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.