Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Hill City’s library logs 6.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Hill City Public Library serves Hill City’s 1,484 residents. Last year it lent 13K books, movies and e-books and logged 10K visits.
Hill City’s library, in brief
A small-town library
Hill City Public Library serves 1,484 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 48 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Most programs are for young children
77% of the 83 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 36 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Hill City invests in its library
Hill City Public Library spends $111 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 for a library its size. All of it comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Hill City’s civic life grade
Hill City isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.45 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Hill City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $165K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $239K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $165K 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 834 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Hill City Public Library serves 1,484 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
13K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
3,324 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, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Hill City last year.
Find it
Hill City Public Library, 341 Main St., Hill City.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Hill City? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Hill City
Does Hill City have a public library?
Yes. Hill City Public Library, 341 Main St., serves Hill City’s 1,484 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Hill City Public 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 Hill City’s library?
It logged 6.8 visits and lent 8.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Hill City’s civic life grade?
Hill City isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Hill City.
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.