Photo: Викичи · CC BY-SA 3.0Cortlandt’s library runs 75 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Hendrick Hudson Free Library serves 15,917 people in and around Cortlandt. Last year it lent 146K books, movies and e-books and logged 87K visits.
What Cortlandt’s library is like
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Hendrick Hudson Free Library ran 1,192 programs last year, about 23 a week. That’s 75 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24. People show up: 19,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.4 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 91% of similar-size libraries. It’s 37% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
A well-funded system
Hendrick Hudson Free Library spends $97 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (93%) 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; Hendrick Hudson Free Library serves 15,917 people in and around Cortlandt, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Cortlandt’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Cortlandt is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns, #246 of 751 in New York. Cortlandt is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
156 community nonprofits are registered in Cortlandt
3.7 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 (19 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.2%
9.2% of Cortlandt’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 Cortlandt’s residents live; 2022.
About 12 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Hendrick Hudson Free Library serves 15,917 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 45 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Hendrick Hudson Free Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
146K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
53,874 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
2 places to borrow in Cortlandt
Hendrick Hudson Free Library, 185 Kings Ferry Road, Montrose.
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 Hendrick Hudson Free Library branch.
New in Cortlandt? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Hendrick Hudson Free Library branches in Cortlandt
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cortlandt cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.5M 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 5,872 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yorktown | John C. Hart Memorial Library | 11.1 | 56 | B |
| Peekskill | The Field Library fine-free | 4.2 | 64 | C− |
| Stony Point | Rose Memorial Library Association fine-free | 1.6 | 47 | C− |
| Cortlandt | Hendrick Hudson Free Library fine-free | — | 63 | B+ |
| Croton-on-Hudson | Croton Free Library fine-free | — | 54 | A+ |
| Ossining | Ossining Public Library fine-free | — | 58 | B− |
| Ossining | Ossining Public Library fine-free | — | 58 | C+ |
| Montrose | Hendrick Hudson Free Library fine-free | — | 63 | — graded as part of its town |
| Buchanan | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Lake Mohegan | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Verplanck | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Hendrick Hudson Free Library serves 15,917 people in and around Cortlandt, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Cortlandt.
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 Cortlandt
Does Cortlandt have a public library?
Yes. Hendrick Hudson Free Library, 185 Kings Ferry Road, serves 15,917 people in and around Cortlandt (the survey’s count) and is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Hendrick Hudson 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 Cortlandt’s library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 9.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Cortlandt’s civic life grade?
B+ Cortlandt is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns on civic life, #246 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 Cortlandt.
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.