Photo: Copperhead7 · CC BY 3.0Clarkstown’s library logs 3.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
New City Free Library serves 46,916 people in and around Clarkstown. Last year it lent 274K books, movies and e-books and logged 150K visits.
The short version on Clarkstown’s library
Open about 65 hours a week
The Clarkstown branch is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year. The buildings ↓
A well-funded system
New City Free Library spends $109 per resident a year, about twice the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (98%) comes from local taxes. 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; New City Free Library serves 46,916 people in and around Clarkstown, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Clarkstown’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Clarkstown is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns, #374 of 751 in New York. Clarkstown’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 →
391 community nonprofits are registered in Clarkstown
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 (138 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 26 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.3%
6.3% of Clarkstown’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 Clarkstown’s residents live; 2022.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Clarkstown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.1M 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 16,894 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
New City Free Library serves 46,916 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 81 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole New City Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
274K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
90,328 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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.
4 places to borrow in Clarkstown
New City Free Library, 220 North Main Street, New City.
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 New City Free Library branch.
New in Clarkstown? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other New City Free Library branches in Clarkstown
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haverstraw | Haverstraw Kings Daughters Public Library fine-free | 6.5 | 60 | C |
| Haverstraw | Hkdpl Haverstraw Village Library fine-free | 6.5 | 55 | D− |
| Blauvelt | Blauvelt Free Library fine-free | 4.5 | 54 | — graded as part of its town |
| Clarkstown | New City Free Library fine-free | — | 65 | B− |
| Orangetown | Pearl River Public Library | — | 61 | B+ |
| West Nyack | West Nyack Free Library | — | 62 | — graded as part of its town |
| Ramapo | Finkelstein Memorial Library | — | 65 | D |
| New City | New City Free Library fine-free | — | 65 | — graded as part of its town |
| Pearl River | Pearl River Public Library | — | 61 | — graded as part of its town |
| Nanuet | Nanuet Public Library | — | 59 | — graded as part of its town |
| Ossining | Ossining Public Library fine-free | — | 58 | B− |
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. New City Free Library serves 46,916 people in and around Clarkstown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Clarkstown.
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 Clarkstown
Does Clarkstown have a public library?
Yes. New City Free Library, 220 North Main Street, serves 46,916 people in and around Clarkstown (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is New City 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 Clarkstown’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 5.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Clarkstown’s civic life grade?
B− Clarkstown is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns on civic life, #374 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 Clarkstown.
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.