Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Buffalo’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library serves 954,236 people in and around Buffalo from 9 locations. Last year it lent 3.2M books, movies and e-books and logged 695K visits.
Buffalo’s library, in brief
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries serving 100,000+ people. Borrowing is 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2. How it compares ↓
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 69% of loans, more per resident than at 71% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 31%. What people borrow ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library offered 2,060 programs last year, 2.2 per 1,000 residents against a typical 9. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 12% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 41% for its size. How it compares ↓
Nine branches in Buffalo
Buffalo has nine branches of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, which serves 954,236 people in and around Buffalo. One card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
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; Buffalo and Erie County Public Library serves 954,236 people in and around Buffalo, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Buffalo’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Buffalo is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns, #478 of 751 in New York. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #127. Buffalo is graded on two of the three inputs. Buffalo’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($38K–$63K) 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 →
1,258 community nonprofits are registered in Buffalo
4.5 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 (379 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 66 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.8%
5.8% of Buffalo’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 Buffalo’s residents live; 2022.
69% of borrowing is digital
3.2M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,210,451 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 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library serves 954,236 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 164 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Buffalo and Erie County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 9 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.
9 places to borrow in Buffalo
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library System, 1 Lafayette Square, Buffalo.
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 Buffalo and Erie County Public Library branch.
New in Buffalo? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Buffalo and Erie County Public Library branches in Buffalo
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.55 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Buffalo cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $33M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $51M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $33M 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 116,018 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amherst | Amherst Public Library fine-free | 7.6 | 63 | C+ |
| West Seneca | West Seneca Public Library fine-free | 5.4 | 52 | C− |
| Tonawanda | Town of Tonawanda Public Library fine-free | 5.1 | 56 | C− |
| Tonawanda Town | Kenilworth Branch Library fine-free | 5.1 | 38 | — graded as part of its town |
| Cheektowaga | Julia Boyer Reinstein Library fine-free | 4.3 | 61 | D |
| Lackawanna | Lackawanna Public Library fine-free | 2.6 | 38 | D |
| Buffalo | Buffalo & Erie County Public Library System fine-free | — | 61 | C+ |
| Eggertsville | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Sloan | None of its own | — | — | 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.
- System-wide. Buffalo and Erie County Public Library serves 954,236 people in and around Buffalo, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Buffalo.
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 Buffalo
Does Buffalo have a public library?
Yes. Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, 1 Lafayette Square, serves 954,236 people in and around Buffalo (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Buffalo and Erie 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 Buffalo’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 3.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Buffalo’s civic life grade?
C+ Buffalo is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life, #478 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 Buffalo.
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.