Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Burgettstown’s library runs 45 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Burgettstown Community Library serves 9,193 people in and around Burgettstown. Last year it lent 21K books, movies and e-books and logged 12K visits.
The short version on Burgettstown’s library
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
61% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 12%. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Burgettstown Community Library spends $15 per resident, less than 90% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). What your card is worth ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 6% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 88% of similar-size libraries. 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; Burgettstown Community Library serves 9,193 people in and around Burgettstown, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Burgettstown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Burgettstown is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns. Burgettstown is graded on two of the three inputs. Burgettstown’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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Burgettstown
6.1 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.5%
7.5% of Burgettstown’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.0% in the typical Pennsylvania 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 Burgettstown’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Burgettstown Community Library serves 9,193 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Burgettstown Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
21K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,171 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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
Burgettstown Community Library, 2 Kerr St., Burgettstown.
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 Burgettstown Community Library branch.
New in Burgettstown? 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 $2.52 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Burgettstown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $141K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $355K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $141K 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 444 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Burgettstown Community Library serves 9,193 people in and around Burgettstown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Burgettstown.
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 Burgettstown
Does Burgettstown have a public library?
Yes. Burgettstown Community Library, 2 Kerr St., serves 9,193 people in and around Burgettstown (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Burgettstown Community 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 Burgettstown’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Burgettstown’s civic life grade?
B+ Burgettstown is ahead of 72% 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 Burgettstown.
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.