Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0East Hampton’s library runs 200 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Montauk Library serves 4,318 people in and around East Hampton. Last year it lent 47K books, movies and e-books and logged 55K visits.
What East Hampton’s library is like
Six times the programs of a typical library its size
Montauk Library ran 865 programs last year, about 17 a week. That’s 200 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34. People show up: 13,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 56% of loans, more per resident than at 98% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 44%. What people borrow ↓
Visits are the system’s strong suit
Montauk Library logs 13 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 97% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 4.8 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
A well-funded system
Montauk Library spends $344 per resident a year, about eight times the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (97%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Nearly everyone the system serves has a card
3,855 cards for 4,318 people, or 89%. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
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; Montauk Library serves 4,318 people in and around East Hampton, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind East Hampton’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, East Hampton is ahead of 68% of U.S. towns, #222 of 751 in New York. East Hampton’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 →
226 community nonprofits are registered in East Hampton
7.9 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 (16 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 8 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.9%
3.9% of East Hampton’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 East Hampton’s residents live; 2022.
About 4 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 all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Montauk Library serves 4,318 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Montauk Library system. The library’s own count.
56% of borrowing is digital
47K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
25,962 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
3 places to borrow in East Hampton
Montauk Library, 871 Montauk Highway, Montauk.
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 Montauk Library branch.
New in East Hampton? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Montauk Library branches in East Hampton
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average East Hampton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $842K 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 3,855 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelter Island | Shelter Island Public Library Society fine-free | 18.6 | 53 | A+ |
| East Hampton | Montauk Library fine-free | — | 61 | B+ |
| Southold | Floyd Memorial Library fine-free | — | 64 | A |
| Southampton | Hampton Bays Public Library fine-free | — | 64 | C+ |
| Wainscott | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Northwest Harbor | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Sagaponack | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Shelter Island Heights | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Noyack | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Montauk Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Montauk Library serves 4,318 people in and around East Hampton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just East Hampton.
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 East Hampton
Does East Hampton have a public library?
Yes. Montauk Library, 871 Montauk Highway, serves 4,318 people in and around East Hampton (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Montauk 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 East Hampton’s library?
It logged 12.7 visits and lent 10.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is East Hampton’s civic life grade?
B+ East Hampton is ahead of 68% of U.S. towns on civic life, #222 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 East Hampton.
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.