Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Lafayette’s library lends 0.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Macon County Public Library serves 26,793 people in and around Lafayette. Last year it lent 48K books, movies and e-books and logged 40K visits.
The short version on Lafayette’s library
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 50% of loans. That’s partly because print borrowing is low: digital loans per resident are below typical too. What people borrow ↓
Programs lean toward adults
59% of the 281 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 115 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Macon County Public Library spends $9 per resident, less than 97% 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; Macon County Public Library serves 26,793 people in and around Lafayette, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Lafayette’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Lafayette is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns, #53 of 150 in Tennessee. Lafayette is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Lafayette’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($39K–$65K) 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 →
16 community nonprofits are registered in Lafayette
2.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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.
8.6%
8.6% of Lafayette’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 Lafayette’s residents live; 2022.
50% of borrowing is digital
48K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
23,761 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Macon County Public Library serves 26,793 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Macon County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
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
Macon County Public Library, 311 Church Street, Lafayette.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Macon County Public Library branch.
New in Lafayette? 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 $3.16 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lafayette cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $240K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $758K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $240K 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 12,923 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Macon County Public Library serves 26,793 people in and around Lafayette, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lafayette.
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 Lafayette
Does Lafayette have a public library?
Yes. Macon County Public Library, 311 Church Street, serves 26,793 people in and around Lafayette (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Macon 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 Lafayette’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 1.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Lafayette’s civic life grade?
C+ Lafayette is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns on civic life, #53 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 Lafayette.
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.