Photo: Ken Gallager at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Wilton’s library runs 53 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Wilton Public & Gregg Free Library serves Wilton’s 3,933 residents. Last year it lent 29K books, movies and e-books and logged 8,767 visits.
Wilton’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
4,380 cards for 3,933 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Wilton Public and Gregg Free Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1982. Today’s library there has 5,850 square feet. The building ↓
Wilton invests in its library
Wilton Public & Gregg Free Library spends $97 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
52% of the 207 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 93 were for children. 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 Wilton’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Wilton is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #52 of 126 in New Hampshire. Wilton’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
31 community nonprofits are registered in Wilton
7.9 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.5%
8.5% of Wilton’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 Wilton’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Wilton Public & Gregg Free Library serves 3,933 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
29K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 21K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
8,589 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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 Wilton last year.
A National Register landmark since 1982
Wilton Public & Gregg Free Library, 7 Forest Road, Wilton.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Wilton? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Wilton Public and Gregg Free Library
Wilton Public and Gregg Free Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jan 11, 1982. It is significant for its architecture and social history at the state level. Its architecture is described as Neo-Classic.
The Wilton Public and Gregg Free Library is the public library of Wilton, New Hampshire. It is located in a Classical Revival brick building on Forest Street, near the north end of Wilton's downtown area. The building was designed by the Boston, Massachusetts, firm of McLean & Wright, and built 1905–07.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wilton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $381K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $452K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $381K 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 4,380 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Wilton ranks 3rd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milford | William Y. Wadleigh Memorial Library fine-free | 7.8 | 48 | C+ |
| Mason | Mason Public Library fine-free | 7.8 | 20 | B+ |
| Wilton | Wilton Public & Gregg Free Library fine-free | 7.4 | 36 | B+ |
| Temple | Mansfield Public Library fine-free | 6.5 | 25 | B |
| Lyndeborough | J.A. Tarbell Library fine-free | 3.6 | 31 | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Wilton Public & Gregg Free Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Wilton
Does Wilton have a public library?
Yes. Wilton Public & Gregg Free Library, 7 Forest Road, serves Wilton’s 3,933 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 36 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wilton Public & Gregg Free 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 Wilton’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 7.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Wilton’s civic life grade?
B+ Wilton is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on civic life, #52 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 Wilton.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.