Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Seymour’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Baylor County Free Library serves 3,463 people in and around Seymour. Last year it lent 2,170 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,500 visits.
The short version on Seymour’s library
Baylor County Free Library is used less than most libraries its size
Baylor County Free Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 0.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $8 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Baylor County Free Library offered 30 programs last year, 8.7 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Baylor County Free Library spends $8 per resident, less than 97% 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; Baylor County Free Library serves 3,463 people in and around Seymour, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Seymour’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Seymour is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns, #121 of 539 in Texas. Seymour is graded on two of the three inputs. Seymour’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
29 community nonprofits are registered in Seymour
11.1 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.2%
4.2% of Seymour’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.7% in the typical Texas 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 Seymour’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Baylor County Free Library serves 3,463 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 1 item goes out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Baylor County Free Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
2,170 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
30 programs a year
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
Baylor County Free Library, 101 S Washington St., Seymour.
Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Good at every Baylor County Free Library branch.
New in Seymour? 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 $1.29 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Seymour cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $29K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $37K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $29K 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 2,550 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Baylor County Free Library serves 3,463 people in and around Seymour, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Seymour.
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 Seymour
Does Seymour have a public library?
Yes. Baylor County Free Library, 101 S Washington St., serves 3,463 people in and around Seymour (the survey’s count) and is open about 34 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Baylor County Free Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Seymour’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 0.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Seymour’s civic life grade?
B− Seymour is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns on civic life, #121 of 539 in Texas. 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 Seymour.
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.