Old Christ Church · Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0Bethel Public serves Bethel’s 1,770 residents
Bethel Public serves Bethel’s 1,770 residents.
What’s behind Bethel’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Bethel is ahead of 98% of U.S. towns. Its library’s 2024 visits weren’t reported, so Bethel is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Bethel near the top nationally; Bethel’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
The survey’s stand-in for Bethel’s 2024 visits is its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 Bethel
9.2 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.3%
12.3% of Bethel’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.5% in the typical Vermont 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 Bethel’s residents live; 2022.
A year at Bethel Public
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: visits and print loans. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Find it
Bethel Public, 106 Main St., Bethel.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Bethel? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bethel resident borrows (the library didn’t report its card count for 2024).
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 resident’s month = the library’s yearly loans and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ the 1,770 people it serves ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
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.
- Not reported for 2024: visits. Bethel Public didn’t report visits; the survey’s estimate is its own, so we leave it out and never rank it.
- Not reported for 2024: print loans. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 Bethel
Does Bethel have a public library?
Yes. Bethel Public, 106 Main St., serves Bethel’s 1,770 residents (the survey’s count).
How busy is Bethel’s library?
It lent 0.0 items per resident in 2024 (print). Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is Bethel’s civic life grade?
A+ Bethel is ahead of 98% 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 Bethel.
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.