Signer's House and Matthew Thornton Cemetery · Photo: Jane023 · CC BY-SA 4.0Merrimack’s library lends 5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Merrimack Public Library serves Merrimack’s 28,565 residents. Last year it lent 230K books, movies and e-books and logged 73K visits.
What stands out about Merrimack’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Merrimack’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Merrimack is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns, #103 of 126 in New Hampshire. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Merrimack’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($95K–$159K) 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 →
69 community nonprofits are registered in Merrimack
2.5 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 (12 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.6%
7.6% of Merrimack’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 Merrimack’s residents live; 2022.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
230K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 56K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.6 times last year, on average.
87,345 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Merrimack Public Library serves 28,565 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 77 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 5 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 Merrimack last year.
Find it
Merrimack Public Library, 470 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Merrimack? 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 $2.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Merrimack cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.3M 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 13,930 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Merrimack ranks 4th of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amherst | Amherst Town Library fine-free | 17.2 | 58 | A |
| Bedford | Bedford Public Library fine-free | 15.4 | 58 | B+ |
| Hollis | Hollis Social Library fine-free | 8.8 | 45 | B+ |
| Merrimack | Merrimack Public Library fine-free | 8.1 | 57 | C |
| East Merrimack | Merrimack Public Library fine-free | 8.1 | 57 | — graded as part of its town |
| Litchfield | Aaron Cutler Memorial Library fine-free | 5.0 | 37 | B− |
| Nashua | Nashua Public Library fine-free | 4.2 | 54 | C− |
| Manchester | Manchester City Library | 2.6 | 50 | C− |
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 Merrimack
Does Merrimack have a public library?
Yes. Merrimack Public Library, 470 Daniel Webster Highway, serves Merrimack’s 28,565 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 57 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Merrimack 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 Merrimack’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 8.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Merrimack’s civic life grade?
C Merrimack is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns on civic life, #103 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 Merrimack.
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.