Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Newburgh’s library runs 18 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Newburgh Free Library serves 68,215 people in and around Newburgh. Last year it lent 165K books, movies and e-books and logged 159K visits.
What stands out about Newburgh Free Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Newburgh’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Newburgh is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns, #346 of 751 in New York. Newburgh is graded on two of the three inputs. Newburgh’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 →
172 community nonprofits are registered in Newburgh
6.0 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 (68 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 9 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.8%
5.8% of Newburgh’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 Newburgh’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Newburgh Free Library serves 68,215 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 45 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Newburgh Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
165K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
62,952 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 10 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
Newburgh Free Library, 124 Grand Street, Newburgh.
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 Newburgh Free Library branch.
New in Newburgh? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Newburgh cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.4M 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 19,787 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newburgh | Newburgh Free Library fine-free | — | 62 | B− |
| Gardnertown | Newburgh Free Library Town Branch fine-free | — | 44 | — graded as part of its town |
| Fishkill | Blodgett Memorial Library District of Fishkill fine-free | — | 40 | C+ |
| New Windsor | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Balmville | 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. Newburgh Free Library serves 68,215 people in and around Newburgh, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Newburgh.
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 Newburgh
Does Newburgh have a public library?
Yes. Newburgh Free Library, 124 Grand Street, serves 68,215 people in and around Newburgh (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Newburgh 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 Newburgh’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 2.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Newburgh’s civic life grade?
B− Newburgh is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns on civic life, #346 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 Newburgh.
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.