Swetland Homestead · Photo: John Jennings · Public domainWyoming’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Wyoming Free Library serves 5,740 people in and around Wyoming. Last year it lent 16K books, movies and e-books and logged 7,752 visits.
What Wyoming’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
60% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 23%. What your card is worth ↓
Programs are almost all for children
81% of the 90 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 1 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 7% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 84% 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; Wyoming Free Library serves 5,740 people in and around Wyoming, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Wyoming’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Wyoming is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns, #226 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Wyoming is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Wyoming
3.8 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.5%
8.5% of Wyoming’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 Wyoming’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.
Wyoming Free Library serves 5,740 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Wyoming Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
16K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,176 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Wyoming Free Library, 358 Wyoming Ave, Wyoming.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Wyoming Free Library branch.
New in Wyoming? 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 $2.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wyoming cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $138K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $302K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $138K 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 3,647 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plains Township | Plains Township Branch Library | 1.0 | 20 | D− |
| Wyoming | Wyoming Free Library | — | 43 | B |
| West Wyoming | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Forty Fort | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Jenkins 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. Wyoming Free Library serves 5,740 people in and around Wyoming, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Wyoming.
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 Wyoming
Does Wyoming have a public library?
Yes. Wyoming Free Library, 358 Wyoming Ave, serves 5,740 people in and around Wyoming (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wyoming Free 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 Wyoming’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 2.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Wyoming’s civic life grade?
B Wyoming is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns on civic life, #226 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 Wyoming.
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.