Photo: Christopher L. Riley · CC BY-SA 4.0Wilmington’s library runs 28 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Wilmington Public Library of Clinton County serves 28,434 people in and around Wilmington. Last year it lent 142K books, movies and e-books and logged 111K visits.
What stands out about Wilmington Public Library of Clinton County
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Wilmington’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Wilmington is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #371 of 914 in Ohio. Wilmington is graded on two of the three inputs. Wilmington’s 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 →
84 community nonprofits are registered in Wilmington
6.7 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 (23 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.8%
6.8% of Wilmington’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 Wilmington’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Wilmington Public Library of Clinton County serves 28,434 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 27 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Wilmington Public Library of Clinton County system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
142K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
39,239 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 10 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.
Find it
Wilmington Public Library of Clinton County, 268 N. South St., Wilmington.
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 Wilmington Public Library of Clinton County branch.
New in Wilmington? 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 $1.67 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wilmington cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.3M 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 13,908 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Wilmington Public Library of Clinton County serves 28,434 people in and around Wilmington, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Wilmington.
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 Wilmington
Does Wilmington have a public library?
Yes. Wilmington Public Library of Clinton County, 268 N. South St., serves 28,434 people in and around Wilmington (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wilmington Public Library of Clinton County 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 Wilmington’s library?
It logged 3.9 visits and lent 5.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Wilmington’s civic life grade?
B+ Wilmington is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on civic life, #371 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 Wilmington.
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.