Photo: RochesterNY · Public domainSeneca Falls’ library runs 76 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Seneca Falls Library serves 9,699 people in and around Seneca Falls. Last year it lent 50K books, movies and e-books and logged 54K visits.
What stands out about Seneca Falls Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Seneca Falls’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Seneca Falls is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns, #164 of 751 in New York. Seneca Falls’ 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 →
53 community nonprofits are registered in Seneca Falls
5.9 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. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.1%
7.1% of Seneca Falls’ 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 Seneca Falls’ residents live; 2022.
About 6 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 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Seneca Falls Library serves 9,699 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Seneca Falls Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
50K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
8,418 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Seneca Falls Library, 47 Cayuga Street, Seneca Falls.
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 Seneca Falls Library branch.
New in Seneca Falls? 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 $1.47 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Seneca Falls cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $619K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $909K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $619K 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 4,464 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Springport | Springport Free Library fine-free | 7.7 | 28 | A |
| Waterloo | Waterloo Library and Historical Society fine-free | 4.4 | 41 | C |
| Waterloo | Waterloo Library and Historical Society fine-free | 4.4 | 41 | B |
| Seneca Falls | Seneca Falls Library fine-free | — | 57 | A− |
| Fayette | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Aurelius | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Tyre | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
| Cayuga | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Seneca Falls Library serves 9,699 people in and around Seneca Falls, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Seneca Falls.
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 Seneca Falls
Does Seneca Falls have a public library?
Yes. Seneca Falls Library, 47 Cayuga Street, serves 9,699 people in and around Seneca Falls (the survey’s count) and is open about 57 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Seneca Falls 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 Seneca Falls’ library?
It logged 5.6 visits and lent 5.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Seneca Falls’ civic life grade?
A− Seneca Falls is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns on civic life, #164 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 Seneca Falls.
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.