Photo: NealVickers · CC BY-SA 4.0Pigeon Forge’s library logs 7.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Pigeon Forge Public Library serves 6,357 people in and around Pigeon Forge. Last year it lent 43K books, movies and e-books and logged 45K visits.
What Pigeon Forge’s library is like
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 51% of loans, more per resident than at 92% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 49%. What people borrow ↓
A well-funded system
Pigeon Forge Public Library spends $102 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 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; Pigeon Forge Public Library serves 6,357 people in and around Pigeon Forge, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Pigeon Forge’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Pigeon Forge is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns, #86 of 150 in Tennessee. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($40K–$67K) 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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Pigeon Forge
2.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.4%
3.4% of Pigeon Forge’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 Pigeon Forge’s residents live; 2022.
51% of borrowing is digital
43K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
21,730 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 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Pigeon Forge Public Library serves 6,357 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Pigeon Forge 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
Pigeon Forge Public Library, 2449 Library Drive, Pigeon Forge.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Pigeon Forge Public Library branch.
New in Pigeon Forge? 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 $1.20 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pigeon Forge cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $651K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $785K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $651K 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 5,178 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pigeon Forge | Pigeon Forge Public Library | — | 61 | C |
| Sevierville | Sevier County Public Library | — | 60 | 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. Pigeon Forge Public Library serves 6,357 people in and around Pigeon Forge, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Pigeon Forge.
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 Pigeon Forge
Does Pigeon Forge have a public library?
Yes. Pigeon Forge Public Library, 2449 Library Drive, serves 6,357 people in and around Pigeon Forge (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pigeon Forge 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 Pigeon Forge’s library?
It logged 7.1 visits and lent 6.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Pigeon Forge’s civic life grade?
C Pigeon Forge is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns on civic life, #86 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 Pigeon Forge.
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.