Tryon’s library lends 5.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Tryon Public Library serves Tryon’s 389 residents. Last year it lent 2,292 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,924 visits.
What Tryon’s library is like
Federal money pays a real share
33% of the budget comes from federal grants, and 58% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Tryon Public Library serves 389 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 23 hours a week. 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 Tryon’s civic life grade
Tryon isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Tryon Public Library serves 389 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
2,292 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 6,079 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
5 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.
Find it
Tryon Public Library, 25 S Main St., Tryon.
No late fees. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Tryon? 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 $1.38 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Tryon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $29K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $40K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $29K 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 138 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. Tryon 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 Tryon
Does Tryon have a public library?
Yes. Tryon Public Library, 25 S Main St., serves Tryon’s 389 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 23 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Tryon Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Tryon’s library?
It logged 4.9 visits and lent 5.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Tryon’s civic life grade?
Tryon isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Tryon.
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.