Photo: Greenmountainboy · CC BY-SA 3.0Cornwall’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Cornwall Free Public serves Cornwall’s 1,146 residents. Last year it lent 830 print books and media and logged 912 visits.
Cornwall’s library, in brief
Cornwall Free Public is used less than most libraries its size
Cornwall Free Public records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $7 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Cornwall Free Public offered 0 programs last year, 0 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
43% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 57%. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Cornwall Free Public serves 1,146 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 24 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Runs on less money than most
Cornwall Free Public spends $7 per resident, less than 99% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Cornwall’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Cornwall is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($86K–$143K) 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 →
2 community nonprofits are registered in Cornwall
1.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
11.8%
11.8% of Cornwall’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 Cornwall’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Cornwall Free Public serves 1,146 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
A year at Cornwall Free Public
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
830 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 5,900 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Cornwall last year.
Find it
Cornwall Free Public, 2629 Rte. 30, Cornwall.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Cornwall? 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 $1.69 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cornwall cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $7,807.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $13K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $7,807 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 329 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Cornwall ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middlebury | Ilsley Public fine-free | 14.0 | 53 | A+ |
| Salisbury | Salisbury Free Public fine-free | 2.9 | 14 | C− |
| Cornwall | Cornwall Free Public fine-free | 0.7 | 24 | C |
| Shoreham | Platt Memorial fine-free | — | 27 | A− |
| Bridport | None of its own | — | — | A+ |
| Whiting | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Weybridge | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Cornwall Free Public counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. Vermont libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Cornwall
Does Cornwall have a public library?
Yes. Cornwall Free Public, 2629 Rte. 30, serves Cornwall’s 1,146 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 24 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cornwall Free Public 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 Cornwall’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 0.7 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Cornwall’s civic life grade?
C Cornwall is ahead of 25% 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 Cornwall.
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.