Photo: JJBers Public · CC BY-SA 4.0Clifton Park’s library logs 4.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library serves Clifton Park’s 61,063 residents. Last year it lent 596K books, movies and e-books and logged 284K visits.
Clifton Park’s library, in brief
Open about 70 hours a week
Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library is open about 70 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 164 items go out. The building ↓
Programs draw a crowd
49,000 people came to the library’s 1,401 programs last year: 0.8 per resident, against a typical 0.3, more than at 91% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Programs lean toward adults
54% of the 1,401 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 442 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Clifton Park invests in its library
Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library spends $90 per resident a year, about twice the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (89%) 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.
What’s behind Clifton Park’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Clifton Park is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns, #290 of 751 in New York. Clifton Park is graded on two of the three inputs. Clifton Park’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 →
172 community nonprofits are registered in Clifton Park
4.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (32 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.5%
7.5% of Clifton Park’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 Clifton Park’s residents live; 2022.
About 9 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 Clifton Park last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library serves 61,063 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 164 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
596K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 147K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.3 times last year, on average.
112,978 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library, 475 Moe Road, Clifton Park.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Clifton Park? 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 $1.73 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Clifton Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $9.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.5M 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 33,292 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Clifton Park ranks 2nd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballston | Ballston Community Public Library fine-free | 10.5 | 51 | A− |
| Clifton Park | Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library fine-free | 9.8 | 70 | B |
| Colonie | William K Sanford Town Library | 6.9 | 59 | C+ |
| Malta | Woman's Round Lake Improvement Society | 3.9 | 55 | B |
| Round Lake | Woman's Round Lake Improvement Society | 3.9 | 55 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Niskayuna | Niskayuna Branch fine-free | — | 40 | B |
| Halfmoon | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Country Knolls | 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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Clifton Park
Does Clifton Park have a public library?
Yes. Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library, 475 Moe Road, serves Clifton Park’s 61,063 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 70 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Clifton Park-Halfmoon 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 Clifton Park’s library?
It logged 4.7 visits and lent 9.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Clifton Park’s civic life grade?
B Clifton Park is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns on civic life, #290 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 Clifton Park.
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.