Photo: Nheyob · CC BY-SA 3.0Grafton’s library logs 2.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Grafton Community Library serves Grafton’s 2,051 residents. Last year it lent 13K books, movies and e-books and logged 4,867 visits.
Grafton’s library, in brief
A small-town library
Grafton Community Library serves 2,051 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 26 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 ↓
New York pays a big share
28% of the budget comes from the state, and 48% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Grafton’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Grafton is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns. Grafton’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 →
19 community nonprofits are registered in Grafton
10.1 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.7%
7.7% of Grafton’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 Grafton’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Grafton Community Library serves 2,051 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
13K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 9,956 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.9 time last year, on average.
3,707 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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 Grafton last year.
Find it
Grafton Community Library, 2455 Ny Route 2, Grafton.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Grafton? 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 $1.93 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Grafton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $106K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $204K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $106K 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 1,047 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Grafton ranks 2nd of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petersburgh | Petersburgh Public Library | 9.2 | 24 | B− |
| Grafton | Grafton Community Library fine-free | 6.2 | 26 | B+ |
| Brunswick | Brunswick Community Library fine-free | 5.7 | 44 | C− |
| Poestenkill | Poestenkill Library fine-free | 5.7 | 29 | C+ |
| Berlin | Berlin Free Town Library fine-free | 4.7 | 22 | C+ |
| Pittstown | Valley Falls Free Library fine-free | 1.4 | 35 | D |
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 Grafton
Does Grafton have a public library?
Yes. Grafton Community Library, 2455 Ny Route 2, serves Grafton’s 2,051 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 26 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Grafton Community 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 Grafton’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 6.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Grafton’s civic life grade?
B+ Grafton is ahead of 65% 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 Grafton.
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.