Photo: Umrok · CC BY-SA 4.0Kingston’s library runs 35 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Hoyt Library serves 31,831 people in and around Kingston. Last year it lent 95K books, movies and e-books and logged 40K visits.
What Kingston’s library is like
More library cards than residents
37,021 cards for 31,831 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
Twice the programs of a typical library its size
Hoyt Library ran 1,107 programs last year, about 21 a week. That’s 35 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14. People show up: 37,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Pennsylvania pays a big share
26% of the budget comes from the state, and 58% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 7% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 91% 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; Hoyt Library serves 31,831 people in and around Kingston, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Kingston’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Kingston is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns, #835 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Kingston is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Hoyt Library spends $19 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($42K–$69K) 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 →
36 community nonprofits are registered in Kingston
2.7 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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.2%
6.2% of Kingston’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 Kingston’s residents live; 2022.
About 14 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Hoyt Library serves 31,831 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 43 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Hoyt Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
95K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
6,339 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Hoyt Library, 284 Wyoming Ave, Kingston.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Hoyt Library branch.
New in Kingston? 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 $3.05 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Kingston cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $604K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $604K 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 37,021 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilkes-Barre | Osterhout Free Library | 1.0 | 57 | C− |
| Plains Township | Plains Township Branch Library | 1.0 | 20 | D− |
| Kingston | Hoyt Library | — | 42 | C− |
| Edwardsville | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Pringle | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Forty Fort | None of its own | — | — | C− |
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. Hoyt Library serves 31,831 people in and around Kingston, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Kingston.
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 Kingston
Does Kingston have a public library?
Yes. Hoyt Library, 284 Wyoming Ave, serves 31,831 people in and around Kingston (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Hoyt 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 Kingston’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 3.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Kingston’s civic life grade?
C− Kingston is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns on civic life, #835 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 Kingston.
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.