Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Binghamton’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Broome County Public Library serves 198,683 people in and around Binghamton. Last year it lent 212K books, movies and e-books and logged 275K visits.
What Binghamton’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 100,000+ people, Broome County Public Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on seven. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Broome County Public Library offered 819 programs last year, 4.1 per 1,000 residents against a typical 9. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 17% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 41% for its size. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Broome County Public Library spends $12 per resident, less than 95% of similar-size libraries (typical: $36). What your card is worth ↓
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; Broome County Public Library serves 198,683 people in and around Binghamton, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Binghamton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Binghamton is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #306 of 751 in New York. Binghamton is graded on two of the three inputs. Binghamton’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 →
225 community nonprofits are registered in Binghamton
4.8 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 (46 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.1%
7.1% of Binghamton’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.4% in the typical New York 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 Binghamton’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Broome County Public Library serves 198,683 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 68 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Broome County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
212K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
50,951 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, across the whole system, 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
Broome County Public Library, 185 Court Street, Binghamton.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Broome County Public Library branch.
New in Binghamton? 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 $2.03 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Binghamton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $2.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.9M 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 33,047 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union | George F. Johnson Memorial Library fine-free | 9.3 | 58 | C+ |
| Johnson City | Your Home Public Library fine-free | 3.2 | 34 | C |
| Binghamton | Broome County Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | B |
| Vestal | Vestal Public Library fine-free | — | 56 | B+ |
| Dickinson | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Port Dickinson | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Conklin | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Kirkwood | None of its own | — | — | 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.
- System-wide. Broome County Public Library serves 198,683 people in and around Binghamton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Binghamton.
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 Binghamton
Does Binghamton have a public library?
Yes. Broome County Public Library, 185 Court Street, serves 198,683 people in and around Binghamton (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Broome County 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 Binghamton’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 1.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Binghamton’s civic life grade?
B Binghamton is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on civic life, #306 of 751 in New York. 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 Binghamton.
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.