Cairo’s library runs 70 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Cairo Public Library serves Cairo’s 6,644 residents. Last year it lent 36K books, movies and e-books and logged 19K visits.
The short version on Cairo’s library
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Cairo Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All six libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
61% of the 464 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 142 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 Cairo’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Cairo is ahead of 54% of U.S. towns, #336 of 751 in New York. Cairo’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 →
38 community nonprofits are registered in Cairo
5.6 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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.1%
7.1% of Cairo’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 Cairo’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Cairo Public Library serves 6,644 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
36K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 28K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.9 time last year, on average.
9,335 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 Cairo last year.
Find it
Cairo Public Library, 15 Railroad Ave, Cairo.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Cairo? 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 $2.79 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cairo cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $219K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $612K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $219K 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 4,229 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Cairo ranks 3rd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windham | Windham Public Library fine-free | 15.1 | 40 | A |
| Greenville | Greenville Public Library fine-free | 12.2 | 42 | A− |
| Cairo | Cairo Public Library | 5.4 | 36 | B− |
| Coxsackie | Heermance Memorial Library fine-free | 3.0 | 37 | C+ |
| Athens | D.R. Evarts Library fine-free | 2.8 | 42 | B− |
| Catskill | Catskill Public Library fine-free | — | 42 | C+ |
| Hunter | Mountain Top Library fine-free | — | 38 | — too few inputs |
| Jewett | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
| Durham | None of its own | — | — | — too few inputs |
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. Cairo Public 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 Cairo
Does Cairo have a public library?
Yes. Cairo Public Library, 15 Railroad Ave, serves Cairo’s 6,644 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 36 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cairo 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 Cairo’s library?
It logged 2.8 visits and lent 5.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Cairo’s civic life grade?
B− Cairo is ahead of 54% of U.S. towns on civic life, #336 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 Cairo.
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.