Photo: G. Edward Johnson · CC BY 4.0Chelsea’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Chelsea Public Library serves Chelsea’s 1,994 residents. Last year it lent 3,652 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,463 visits.
What Chelsea’s library is like
More library cards than residents
3,013 cards for 1,994 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Chelsea Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Chelsea Public Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $6 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Chelsea Public Library offered 3 programs last year, 1.5 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
Open only about 18 hours a week
Chelsea Public Library keeps short hours: about 18 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
A small-town library
Chelsea Public Library serves 1,994 residents with about one full-time staff. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Chelsea’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Chelsea is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($38K–$64K) 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 →
6 community nonprofits are registered in Chelsea
3.2 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
11.8%
11.8% of Chelsea’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.7% in the typical Oklahoma 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 Chelsea’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Chelsea Public Library serves 1,994 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
55% of borrowing is digital
3,652 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 20K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
2,020 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
3 programs a year
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 Chelsea last year.
Find it
Chelsea Public Library, 618 Pine Street, Chelsea.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Chelsea? 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 $4.46 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Chelsea cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $13K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $57K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $13K 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 3,013 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Chelsea Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Chelsea
Does Chelsea have a public library?
Yes. Chelsea Public Library, 618 Pine Street, serves Chelsea’s 1,994 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 18 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Chelsea 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 Chelsea’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 1.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Chelsea’s civic life grade?
C+ Chelsea is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Chelsea.
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.