Easton Friends North Meetinghouse · Photo: Mark Kozlowski · CC BY-SA 4.0Easton’s library runs 104 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Easton Library serves Easton’s 2,279 residents. Last year it lent 6,030 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,554 visits.
Easton’s library, in brief
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
75% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 25%. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Easton Library serves 2,279 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 25 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 18% of the people Easton Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
Programs lean toward adults
81% of the 237 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 37 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Easton’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Easton is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns. Easton’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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Easton
5.9 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.9%
8.9% of Easton’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 Easton’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Easton Library serves 2,279 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
6,030 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 17K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
1,542 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
237 programs a year
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 Easton last year.
Find it
Easton Library, 1074 State Route 40, Greenwich.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Easton? 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 $1.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Easton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $88K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $112K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $88K 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 421 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Easton ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schaghticoke | Arvilla E. Diver Memorial Library fine-free | 15.1 | 26 | C− |
| Greenwich | Greenwich Free Library fine-free | 6.6 | 46 | A+ |
| Easton | Easton Library fine-free | 2.6 | 25 | B |
| Saratoga | Schuylerville Public Library fine-free | — | 54 | A |
| Stillwater | Stillwater Public Library fine-free | — | 55 | B− |
| Stillwater | Stillwater Public Library fine-free | — | 55 | C |
| Schuylerville | Schuylerville Public Library fine-free | — | 54 | A |
| Cambridge | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
| Jackson | None of its own | — | — | A+ |
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 Easton
Does Easton have a public library?
Yes. Easton Library, 1074 State Route 40, serves Easton’s 2,279 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Easton 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 Easton’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Easton’s civic life grade?
B Easton is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Easton.
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.