Oblong Friends Meetinghouse · Photo: Rolf Müller (User:Rolfmueller) · CC BY-SA 3.0Pawling’s library logs 8.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Pawling Free Library serves Pawling’s 8,012 residents. Last year it lent 48K books, movies and e-books and logged 65K visits.
What Pawling’s library is like
Top 10% in New York for library use
Pawling ranks #19 of 241 New York towns with a library of their own for visits per resident. That’s 8.2 visits per resident, more than at 90% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Pawling Free Library ran 793 programs last year, about 15 a week. That’s 99 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
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 Pawling’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Pawling is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns, #45 of 751 in New York. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank 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 →
46 community nonprofits are registered in Pawling
5.7 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.8%
10.8% of Pawling’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 Pawling’s residents live; 2022.
About 6 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 Pawling last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Pawling Free Library serves 8,012 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
48K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 27K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.2 time last year, on average.
14,866 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Pawling Free Library, 11 Broad Street, Pawling.
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 Pawling? 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 $1.46 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pawling cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $541K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $788K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $541K 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 5,165 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Pawling ranks 3rd of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherman | Sherman Library Assn. fine-free | 6.7 | 34 | A |
| East Fishkill | East Fishkill Public Library District fine-free | 6.5 | 58 | C |
| Pawling | Pawling Free Library fine-free | 5.9 | 46 | A |
| Kent | Kent Public Library | 5.5 | 46 | B |
| Patterson | Patterson Library fine-free | 4.8 | 51 | C |
| Beekman | Beekman Library fine-free | 3.5 | 46 | C |
| Dover | Dover Plains Library fine-free | 3.5 | 54 | 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.
- 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 Pawling
Does Pawling have a public library?
Yes. Pawling Free Library, 11 Broad Street, serves Pawling’s 8,012 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pawling 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 Pawling’s library?
It logged 8.2 visits and lent 5.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Pawling’s civic life grade?
A Pawling is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns on civic life, #45 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 Pawling.
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.