Photo: Generic1139 · CC BY-SA 3.0Chartiers Township’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Chartiers-Houston Community Library serves 9,804 people in and around Chartiers Township. Last year it lent 23K books, movies and e-books and logged 12K visits.
The short version on Chartiers Township’s library
Pennsylvania pays a big share
43% of the budget comes from the state, and 40% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 12% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Chartiers-Houston Community Library spends $12 per resident, less than 94% 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 87% 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; Chartiers-Houston Community Library serves 9,804 people in and around Chartiers Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Chartiers Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Chartiers Township is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns, #824 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Chartiers Township’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Chartiers-Houston Community Library spends $12 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($75K–$125K) 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 →
33 community nonprofits are registered in Chartiers Township
3.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.2%
6.2% of Chartiers Township’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 Chartiers Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Chartiers-Houston Community Library serves 9,804 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Chartiers-Houston Community Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
23K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,525 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Find it
Chartiers-Houston Community Library, 730 West Grant St., Houston.
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 Chartiers-Houston Community Library branch.
New in Chartiers Township? 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 $3.44 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Chartiers Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $117K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $404K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $117K 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 1,161 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chartiers Township | Chartiers-Houston Community Library fine-free | — | 35 | C− |
| McGovern | Chartiers-Houston Community Library fine-free | — | 35 | — graded as part of its town |
| Canonsburg | Frank Sarris Public Library fine-free | — | 45 | B− |
| Canton Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Cecil Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| North Strabane Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Houston | None of its own | — | — | D |
| South Strabane Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Muse | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Meadowlands | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Mount Pleasant Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Chartiers-Houston Community Library serves 9,804 people in and around Chartiers Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Chartiers Township.
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 Chartiers Township
Does Chartiers Township have a public library?
Yes. Chartiers-Houston Community Library, 730 West Grant St., serves 9,804 people in and around Chartiers Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Chartiers-Houston 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 Chartiers Township’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 2.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Chartiers Township’s civic life grade?
C− Chartiers Township is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns on civic life, #824 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. 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 Chartiers Township.
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.