Franklin Hinchey House · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Gates’ library lends 7.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Gates Public Library serves Gates’s 29,167 residents. Last year it lent 247K books, movies and e-books and logged 111K visits.
What Gates’s library is like
Gates out-borrows every town next door
At 8.5 loans per resident, Gates leads the five towns here. The closest is Chili, at 8.2. Libraries next door ↓
Gates invests in its library
Gates Public Library spends $89 per resident a year, about twice the typical $40 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.
What’s behind Gates’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Gates is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns, #633 of 751 in New York. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($58K–$96K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
70 community nonprofits are registered in Gates
2.4 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 (29 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.2%
4.2% of Gates’ 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 Gates’ residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
247K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 94K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.3 times last year, on average.
26,535 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Gates Public Library serves 29,167 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 80 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 7 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 Gates last year.
Find it
Gates Public Library, 902 Elmgrove Road, Rochester.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Gates? 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 $1.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gates cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.6M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 16,246 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Gates borrows the most per resident of the 5 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gates | Gates Public Library | 8.5 | 59 | C− |
| Chili | Chili Public Library | 8.2 | 64 | C |
| Ogden | Ogden Farmers' Library fine-free | 6.6 | 58 | C− |
| Greece | Greece Public Library | 5.7 | 63 | D |
| Rochester | Rochester Public Library fine-free | 5.2 | 51 | C+ |
| North Gates | 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 Gates
Does Gates have a public library?
Yes. Gates Public Library, 902 Elmgrove Road, serves Gates’ 29,167 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Gates Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Gates’ library?
It logged 3.8 visits and lent 8.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Gates’ civic life grade?
C− Gates is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns on civic life, #633 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 Gates.
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.