Photo: Jon Platek · CC BY-SA 3.0Rochester’s library logs 3.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Rochester Public Library serves Rochester’s 33,018 residents. Last year it lent 141K books, movies and e-books and logged 117K visits.
What Rochester’s library is like
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Rochester Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Five of the six libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 9% of the people Rochester Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
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 Rochester’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Rochester is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns, #89 of 126 in New Hampshire. Library visits hold the grade up; Rochester’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
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 →
102 community nonprofits are registered in Rochester
3.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (19 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.0%
7.0% of Rochester’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 Rochester’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Rochester Public Library serves 33,018 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 51 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
141K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 66K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
32,906 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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 Rochester last year.
2 places to borrow in Rochester
Rochester Public Library, 65 South Main Street, Rochester.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Rochester? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Rochester
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.50 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rochester cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.5M 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 3,063 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Rochester ranks 4th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dover | Dover Public Library | 7.6 | 62 | B+ |
| Barrington | Barrington Public Library fine-free | 7.2 | 47 | B |
| Strafford | Hill Library fine-free | 6.1 | 51 | B− |
| Rochester | Rochester Public Library | 4.3 | 54 | C+ |
| Farmington | Goodwin Library fine-free | 4.2 | 30 | C− |
| Berwick | Berwick Public Library fine-free | 3.4 | 41 | B− |
| Lebanon | Martha Sawyer Community Library fine-free | 0.5 | 20 | D |
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 Rochester
Does Rochester have a public library?
Yes. Rochester Public Library, 65 South Main Street, serves Rochester’s 33,018 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rochester Public 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 Rochester’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 4.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Rochester’s civic life grade?
C+ Rochester is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life, #89 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 Rochester.
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.