Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Portsmouth’s library logs 8.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Portsmouth Public Library serves Portsmouth’s 22,175 residents. Last year it lent 368K books, movies and e-books and logged 179K visits.
Portsmouth’s library, in brief
Portsmouth ranks 3rd in New Hampshire for borrowing
Out of 120 New Hampshire towns with a library of their own, Portsmouth comes 3rd for items borrowed per resident. It’s also #10 for library use. How it compares ↓
Portsmouth uses its library more than almost any town its size
Portsmouth Public Library logs 8.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, and lends 12 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 93% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 4.9 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 97% of similar-size libraries. It’s 29% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Portsmouth out-borrows every town next door
At 17 loans per resident, Portsmouth leads the eight towns here. The closest is New Castle, at 13. Libraries next door ↓
Open about 65 hours a week
Portsmouth Public Library is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 109 items go out. The building ↓
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 Portsmouth’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Portsmouth is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns, #21 of 126 in New Hampshire. Portsmouth’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 →
215 community nonprofits are registered in Portsmouth
9.5 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 (20 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 8 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.8%
6.8% of Portsmouth’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 Portsmouth’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
368K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Portsmouth’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 162K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
108,505 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 all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Portsmouth Public Library serves 22,175 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 109 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 4 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.
Find it
Portsmouth Public Library, 175 Parrott Avenue, Portsmouth.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Portsmouth? 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 $2.65 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Portsmouth cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $2.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.4M 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 9,601 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Portsmouth borrows the most per resident of the 8 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portsmouth | Portsmouth Public Library fine-free | 16.6 | 65 | A− |
| New Castle | New Castle Public Library fine-free | 12.6 | 24 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Newington | Langdon Library fine-free | 11.5 | 39 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Rye | Rye Public Library fine-free | 8.1 | 54 | A |
| Kittery | Rice Public Library fine-free | 8.0 | 31 | B |
| Greenland | Weeks Public Library fine-free | 7.2 | 47 | B− |
| South Eliot | William Fogg Public Library fine-free | 3.0 | 49 | — graded as part of its town |
| Eliot | William Fogg Public Library fine-free | 3.0 | 49 | B+ |
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 Portsmouth
Does Portsmouth have a public library?
Yes. Portsmouth Public Library, 175 Parrott Avenue, serves Portsmouth’s 22,175 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth’s library?
It logged 8.1 visits and lent 16.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Portsmouth’s civic life grade?
A− Portsmouth is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns on civic life, #21 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 Portsmouth.
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.