Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Riverhead’s library runs 45 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Riverhead Free Library serves 41,860 people in and around Riverhead. Last year it lent 156K books, movies and e-books and logged 142K visits.
What Riverhead’s library is like
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Riverhead Free Library ran 1,866 programs last year, about 36 a week. That’s 45 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 57% of loans, more per resident than at 75% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 43%. What people borrow ↓
Open about 64 hours a week
The Riverhead branch is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year. The buildings ↓
Programs lean toward adults
79% of the 1,866 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 211 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
A well-funded system
Riverhead Free Library spends $91 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; Riverhead Free Library serves 41,860 people in and around Riverhead, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Riverhead’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Riverhead is ahead of 21% of U.S. towns, #612 of 751 in New York. Riverhead is graded on two of the three inputs. Riverhead’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($71K–$118K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
140 community nonprofits are registered in Riverhead
3.9 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 (40 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.3%
4.3% of Riverhead’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 Riverhead’s residents live; 2022.
About 4 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Riverhead Free Library serves 41,860 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 47 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Riverhead Free Library system. The library’s own count.
57% of borrowing is digital
156K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
89,007 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
2 places to borrow in Riverhead
Riverhead Free Library, 330 Court Street, Riverhead.
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 Riverhead Free Library branch.
New in Riverhead? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Riverhead Free Library branches in Riverhead
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Riverhead cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.8M 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 24,360 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverhead | Riverhead Free Library fine-free | — | 64 | C− |
| Brookhaven | Emma S. Clark Memorial Library fine-free | — | 73 | C+ |
| East Shoreham | North Shore Public Library District | — | 61 | — graded as part of its town |
| Southampton | Hampton Bays Public Library fine-free | — | 64 | C+ |
| Southold | Floyd Memorial Library fine-free | — | 64 | A |
| Calverton | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Manorville | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Wading River | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Riverside | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Ridge | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Flanders | 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. Riverhead Free Library serves 41,860 people in and around Riverhead, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Riverhead.
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 Riverhead
Does Riverhead have a public library?
Yes. Riverhead Free Library, 330 Court Street, serves 41,860 people in and around Riverhead (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Riverhead 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 Riverhead’s library?
It logged 3.4 visits and lent 3.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Riverhead’s civic life grade?
C− Riverhead is ahead of 21% of U.S. towns on civic life, #612 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 Riverhead.
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.