Sycamore Shoals · Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Elizabethton’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Elizabethton Carter County Public Library serves 57,022 people in and around Elizabethton. Last year it lent 93K books, movies and e-books and logged 44K visits.
Elizabethton’s library, in brief
Elizabethton Carter County Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Elizabethton Carter County Public Library records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $10 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
45% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 45% of loans. That’s partly because print borrowing is low: digital loans per resident are below typical too. What people borrow ↓
Runs on less money than most
Elizabethton Carter County Public Library spends $10 per resident, less than 95% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). 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; Elizabethton Carter County Public Library serves 57,022 people in and around Elizabethton, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Elizabethton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Elizabethton is ahead of 39% of U.S. towns, #62 of 150 in Tennessee. Elizabethton is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Elizabethton’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($35K–$59K) 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 →
52 community nonprofits are registered in Elizabethton
3.6 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 (12 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.0%
7.0% of Elizabethton’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.7% in the typical Tennessee 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 Elizabethton’s residents live; 2022.
45% of borrowing is digital
93K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
42,366 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Elizabethton Carter County Public Library serves 57,022 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Elizabethton Carter County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 5 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
Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library, 201 N. Sycamore Street, Elizabethton.
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 Elizabethton Carter County Public Library branch.
New in Elizabethton? 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 $2.70 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Elizabethton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $582K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $582K 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 17,681 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnson City | Johnson City Public Library | 9.7 | 65 | C |
| Elizabethton | Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library fine-free | — | 59 | C+ |
| Pine Crest | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Central | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Hunter | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Biltmore | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Valley Forge | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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. Elizabethton Carter County Public Library serves 57,022 people in and around Elizabethton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Elizabethton.
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 Elizabethton
Does Elizabethton have a public library?
Yes. Elizabethton Carter County Public Library, 201 N. Sycamore Street, serves 57,022 people in and around Elizabethton (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Elizabethton Carter County 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 Elizabethton’s library?
It logged 0.8 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 Elizabethton’s civic life grade?
C+ Elizabethton is ahead of 39% of U.S. towns on civic life, #62 of 150 in Tennessee. 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 Elizabethton.
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.