Photo: JOHN LLOYD · CC BY 2.0Red Lion’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Kaltreider-Benfer Library serves 71,227 people in and around Red Lion. Last year it lent 117K books, movies and e-books and logged 72K visits.
What Red Lion’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, Kaltreider-Benfer Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on six. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Kaltreider-Benfer Library offered 161 programs last year, 2.3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
35% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 37%. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Kaltreider-Benfer Library spends $4 per resident, less than 99% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). What your card is worth ↓
Most programs are for young children
67% of the 161 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.9 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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; Kaltreider-Benfer Library serves 71,227 people in and around Red Lion, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Red Lion’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Red Lion is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns, #921 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Red Lion is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Red Lion’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Kaltreider-Benfer Library spends $4 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($55K–$91K) 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 →
17 community nonprofits are registered in Red Lion
2.6 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.6%
5.6% of Red Lion’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 Red Lion’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Kaltreider-Benfer Library serves 71,227 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 Kaltreider-Benfer Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
117K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
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
Kaltreider-Benfer Library, 147 S Charles St., Red Lion.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Kaltreider-Benfer Library branch.
New in Red Lion? 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 $5.61 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Red Lion cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $308K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $308K 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 14,837 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Lion | Kaltreider-Benfer Library | — | 53 | D |
| York Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Windsor Township | 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. Kaltreider-Benfer Library serves 71,227 people in and around Red Lion, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Red Lion.
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 Red Lion
Does Red Lion have a public library?
Yes. Kaltreider-Benfer Library, 147 S Charles St., serves 71,227 people in and around Red Lion (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Kaltreider-Benfer 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 Red Lion’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 1.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Red Lion’s civic life grade?
D Red Lion is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns on civic life, #921 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 Red Lion.
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.