Photo: D-Day · CC BY-SA 3.0Boston’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Boston Free Library serves 11,069 people in and around Boston. Last year it lent 37K print books and media and logged 15K visits.
What stands out about Boston Free Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Boston’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Boston is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns, #366 of 751 in New York. Boston is graded on two of the three inputs. Boston’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 →
34 community nonprofits are registered in Boston
4.3 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 (3 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.
7.0%
7.0% of Boston’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 Boston’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Boston Free Library serves 11,069 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 22 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Boston Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
37K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Boston Free Library, 9475 Boston State Road, Boston.
No late fees. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Boston Free Library branch.
New in Boston? 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 $3.14 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Boston cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $187K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $586K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $187K 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 2,581 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orchard Park | Orchard Park Public Library fine-free | 9.9 | 55 | B |
| Concord | Town of Concord Public Library fine-free | 7.4 | 36 | B− |
| Eden | Eden Library fine-free | 5.9 | 33 | C+ |
| North Collins | Town of North Collins Public Library fine-free | 5.7 | 30 | C |
| Hamburg | Hamburg Public Library fine-free | 5.1 | 54 | C |
| Boston | Boston Free Library fine-free | — | 33 | B− |
| Colden | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| North Boston | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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.
- Digital loans not reported. New York libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Boston Free Library serves 11,069 people in and around Boston, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Boston.
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 Boston
Does Boston have a public library?
Yes. Boston Free Library, 9475 Boston State Road, serves 11,069 people in and around Boston (the survey’s count) and is open about 33 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Boston Free Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Boston’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 3.3 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Boston’s civic life grade?
B− Boston is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns on civic life, #366 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 Boston.
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.