Photo: JayHeritageCenter · CC BY-SA 4.0Rye’s library logs 9.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Rye Free Reading Room serves Rye’s 16,592 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 164K books, movies and e-books and logged 165K visits.
Rye’s library, in brief
Top 10% in New York for library use
Rye ranks #11 of 241 New York towns with a library of their own for visits per resident. That’s 9.9 visits per resident, more than at 97% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Rye’s library system ran 1,148 programs last year, about 22 a week. That’s 69 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24. People show up: 30,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
41% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 41% of loans, more per resident than at 94% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 59%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
Rye invests in its library
Rye’s library system spends $111 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. 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.
What’s behind Rye’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Rye is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns, #215 of 751 in New York. Library visits hold 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 →
124 community nonprofits are registered in Rye
7.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.8%
3.8% of Rye’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 Rye’s residents live; 2022.
About 13 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 Rye last year.
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.
Rye Free Reading Room serves 16,592 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 43 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
41% of borrowing is digital
164K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 39K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.4 times last year, on average.
67,738 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 Rye
Rye Free Reading Room, 1061 Boston Post Road, Rye.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Rye? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Rye
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.48 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rye cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.8M 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 8,869 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Rye ranks 3rd of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mamaroneck | Larchmont Public Library | 16.4 | 56 | B− |
| Greenwich | Greenwich Library fine-free | 15.1 | 63 | B+ |
| Rye | Rye Free Reading Room | 9.9 | 62 | B+ |
| Harrison | Harrison Public Library fine-free | 8.1 | 55 | B− |
| Harrison | Harrison Public Library fine-free | 8.1 | 55 | — graded with its twin city |
| Mamaroneck | Mamaroneck Public Library District | 6.9 | 50 | B− |
| Port Chester | Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library | — | 55 | D |
| Oyster Bay | Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library | — | 71 | B |
| Rye Brook | None of its own | — | — | D− |
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 Rye
Does Rye have a public library?
Yes. Rye Free Reading Room, 1061 Boston Post Road, serves Rye’s 16,592 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rye Free Reading Room 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 Rye’s library?
It logged 9.9 visits and lent 9.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Rye’s civic life grade?
B+ Rye is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on civic life, #215 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 Rye.
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.