Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0Chelan’s library is a branch of North Central Regional Library, which lends less per resident than 62% of systems its size
Chelan’s library is the Chelan Public Library, a branch of North Central Regional Library, which serves 280,865 people and lent 1.3M items last year.
What stands out about Chelan Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Chelan’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Chelan is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns, #57 of 152 in Washington. Chelan is graded on two of the three inputs. Chelan’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 →
53 community nonprofits are registered in Chelan
12.2 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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.3%
5.3% of Chelan’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.7% in the typical Washington 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 Chelan’s residents live; 2022.
43% of borrowing is digital
1.3M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
561,204 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 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
North Central Regional Library serves 280,865 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 24 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole North Central Regional Library system. The library’s own count.
About 43 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
Chelan Public Library, 216 N Emerson St., Chelan.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every North Central Regional Library branch.
New in Chelan? 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 $1.35 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Chelan cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $16M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $22M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $16M 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 55,314 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Chelan Public Library is one branch of North Central Regional Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 280,865 people it serves.
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 Chelan
Does Chelan have a public library?
Yes: Chelan Public Library, 216 N Emerson St., is a branch of North Central Regional Library, which serves 280,865 people. The branch is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is North Central Regional Library 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 Chelan’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 4.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Chelan’s civic life grade?
B Chelan is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns on civic life, #57 of 152 in Washington. 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 Chelan.
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.