Photo: Jondude11 · CC BY-SA 4.0Nyack’s library logs 15 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Nyack Library serves 14,148 people in and around Nyack. Last year it lent 135K books, movies and e-books and logged 213K visits.
What Nyack’s library is like
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Nyack Library ran 1,103 programs last year, about 21 a week. That’s 78 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24. People show up: 16,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Visits are the system’s strong suit
Nyack Library logs 15 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 99% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 6.4 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
A well-funded system
Nyack Library spends $184 per resident a year, about four times the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (89%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.1 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 89% of similar-size libraries. It’s 33% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
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; Nyack Library serves 14,148 people in and around Nyack, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Nyack’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Nyack is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns, #131 of 751 in New York. Nyack is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Nyack’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
50 community nonprofits are registered in Nyack
6.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.9%
7.9% of Nyack’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 Nyack’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 46 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Nyack Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Nyack Library serves 14,148 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
135K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
44,448 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
The Nyack Library, 59 South Broadway, Nyack.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Nyack Library branch.
New in Nyack? 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 Nyack cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $2.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.6M 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 7,854 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valley Cottage | Valley Cottage Free Library | 13.7 | 61 | — graded as part of its town |
| Mount Pleasant | Mount Pleasant Public Library fine-free | 7.6 | 53 | B+ |
| Nyack | The Nyack Library | — | 57 | A− |
| Orangetown | Pearl River Public Library | — | 61 | B+ |
| Clarkstown | New City Free Library fine-free | — | 65 | B− |
| Upper Nyack | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Sleepy Hollow | None of its own | — | — | B− |
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.
- Visits count everyone. Nyack’s 212,846 visits include people from nearby towns and summer visitors; the survey has no resident share.
- System-wide. Nyack Library serves 14,148 people in and around Nyack, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Nyack.
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 Nyack
Does Nyack have a public library?
Yes. Nyack Library, 59 South Broadway, serves 14,148 people in and around Nyack (the survey’s count) and is open about 57 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Nyack 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 Nyack’s library?
It logged 15.0 visits and lent 9.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Nyack’s civic life grade?
A− Nyack is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns on civic life, #131 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 Nyack.
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.