Photo: KForce · CC BY-SA 3.0New City’s library logs 3.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
New City Free Library serves 46,916 people in and around New City. Last year it lent 274K books, movies and e-books and logged 150K visits.
The short version on New City’s library
Open about 65 hours a week
The New City branch is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
A well-funded system
New City Free Library spends $109 per resident a year, about twice the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (98%) 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; New City Free Library serves 46,916 people in and around New City, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind New City’s civic life grade
New City isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average New City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.1M 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 16,894 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
New City Free Library serves 46,916 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 81 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole New City Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
274K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
90,328 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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.
Find it
New City Free Library, 220 North Main Street, New City.
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 New City Free Library branch.
New in New City? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haverstraw | Haverstraw Kings Daughters Public Library fine-free | 6.5 | 60 | C |
| Haverstraw | Hkdpl Haverstraw Village Library fine-free | 6.5 | 55 | D− |
| New City | New City Free Library fine-free | — | 65 | — graded as part of its town |
| Nanuet | Nanuet Public Library | — | 59 | — graded as part of its town |
| Clarkstown | New City Free Library fine-free | — | 65 | B− |
| Ramapo | Finkelstein Memorial Library | — | 65 | D |
| Bardonia | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Congers | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Hillcrest | 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.
- System-wide. New City Free Library serves 46,916 people in and around New City, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just New City.
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 New City
Does New City have a public library?
Yes. New City Free Library, 220 North Main Street, serves 46,916 people in and around New City (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is New City 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 New City’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 5.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is New City’s civic life grade?
New City isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in New City.
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.