Photo: Major optics · CC BY 3.0Bluffton’s library lends 11 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Bluffton Public Library serves 6,438 people in and around Bluffton. Last year it lent 98K books, movies and e-books and logged 58K visits.
Bluffton’s library, in brief
Ohio pays a big share
62% of the budget comes from the state, and 30% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 58% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 96% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
One of the busiest library systems its size
Bluffton Public Library logs 9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, and lends 11 print items per resident against a typical 3.8. On both counts it beats 92% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.8 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 94% of similar-size libraries. It’s 25% 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; Bluffton Public Library serves 6,438 people in and around Bluffton, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Bluffton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Bluffton is among the top 1% of U.S. towns, #9 of 914 in Ohio. Bluffton is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Bluffton near the top nationally; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
36 community nonprofits are registered in Bluffton
9.3 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
14.2%
14.2% of Bluffton’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.5% in the typical Ohio 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 Bluffton’s residents live; 2022.
About 2 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 all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Bluffton Public Library serves 6,438 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 35 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Bluffton Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
98K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
24,379 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Bluffton Public Library, 145 S. Main St., Bluffton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Bluffton Public Library branch.
New in Bluffton? 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 $2.91 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bluffton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $503K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $503K 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 3,166 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Bluffton Public Library serves 6,438 people in and around Bluffton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Bluffton.
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 Bluffton
Does Bluffton have a public library?
Yes. Bluffton Public Library, 145 S. Main St., serves 6,438 people in and around Bluffton (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bluffton Public 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 Bluffton’s library?
It logged 9.0 visits and lent 15.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Bluffton’s civic life grade?
A+ Bluffton is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life, #9 of 914 in Ohio. 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 Bluffton.
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.