Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, photographer not specified or unknown · Public domainDe Pere’s library is a branch of Brown County Library, which lends more per resident than 67% of systems its size
De Pere’s library is the Kress Family Branch, a branch of Brown County Library, which serves 273,297 people and lent 1.8M items last year.
What stands out about Kress Family Branch
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind De Pere’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, De Pere is ahead of 86% of U.S. towns, #54 of 358 in Wisconsin. De Pere is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; De Pere’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
169 community nonprofits are registered in De Pere
6.7 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 (27 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.8%
8.8% of De Pere’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.6% in the typical Wisconsin 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 De Pere’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Brown County Library serves 273,297 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 89 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Brown County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1.8M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
484,053 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 23 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
Kress Family Branch, 333 N. Broadway, De Pere.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Brown County Library branch.
New in De Pere? 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 $3.58 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average De Pere cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $7.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $26M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $7.3M 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 78,136 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| De Pere | Kress Family Branch | — | 55 | A |
| Ashwaubenon | Ashwaubenon Branch | — | 53 | C |
| Ledgeview | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Lawrence | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Rockland | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Allouez | None of its own | — | — | A |
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. Kress Family Branch is one branch of Brown County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 273,297 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 De Pere
Does De Pere have a public library?
Yes: Kress Family Branch, 333 N. Broadway, is a branch of Brown County Library, which serves 273,297 people. The branch is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Brown County 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 De Pere’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 6.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is De Pere’s civic life grade?
A De Pere is ahead of 86% of U.S. towns on civic life, #54 of 358 in Wisconsin. 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 De Pere.
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.