Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Mountain City’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Johnson County Public Library serves 18,375 people in and around Mountain City. Last year it lent 47K books, movies and e-books and logged 23K visits.
The short version on Mountain City’s library
Few programs for a library this size
Johnson County Public Library offered 73 programs last year, 4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Johnson County Public Library spends $6 per resident, less than 99% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). 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; Johnson County Public Library serves 18,375 people in and around Mountain City, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Mountain City’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mountain City is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns. Mountain City is graded on two of the three inputs. Mountain City’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($29K–$49K) 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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Mountain City
3.8 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.5%
5.5% of Mountain City’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 Mountain City’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Johnson County Public Library serves 18,375 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Johnson County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
47K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
14,835 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
73 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Johnson County Public Library, 219 N. Church Street, Mountain City.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Johnson County Public Library branch.
New in Mountain City? 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 $6.50 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mountain City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $117K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $757K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $117K 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 7,674 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Johnson County Public Library serves 18,375 people in and around Mountain City, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Mountain City.
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 Mountain City
Does Mountain City have a public library?
Yes. Johnson County Public Library, 219 N. Church Street, serves 18,375 people in and around Mountain City (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Johnson County Public 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 Mountain City’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Mountain City’s civic life grade?
C Mountain City is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Mountain 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.