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Horicon Wisconsin Downtown Looking West WIS28Photo: I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license: · CC BY-SA 3.0
Horicon Public Library

Horicon’s library lends 5.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size

Horicon Public Library serves Horicon’s 6,473 residents. Last year it lent 41K books, movies and e-books and logged 27K visits.

404 E. Lake St., Horicon 53032 · about 53 hours a week
A+Civic lifeAhead of 96% of U.S. towns · #16 of 358 in Wisconsin. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
41K
6.4 per resident
Visits a year
27K
4.1 per resident · Above typical (3)
Programs & events
232
about 4 a week · 2,717 attended
Cardholders
30%
1,968 cards
Open
53 hrs
a week

What stands out about Horicon’s library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Horicon’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Horicon is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns, #16 of 358 in Wisconsin. Horicon is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.

A+
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Horicon’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 96%
FewerMore
Wisconsin towns we grade (358)Ahead of 96%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $40K–$67K (5,960)Ahead of 95%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Horicon is small (3,917 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

25 community nonprofits are registered in Horicon

6.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation10.26 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans143.67 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services20.52 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education20.52 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals10.26 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other51.31 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (5 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.

Volunteering

12.6%

12.6% of Horicon’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 Horicon’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 4.1 visits · typical 3Higher than 66%
Borrowing per resident 5.3 print items · typical 3.8Higher than 67%
Digital borrowing 1 e-items · typical 1Higher than 51%
Kids’ borrowing 2.6 kids’ items · typical 1.6Higher than 71%
Program attendance 0.4 attendees · typical 0.5Lower than 57%
Programs offered 35.8 per 1,000 residents · typical 34Higher than 52%
Cardholders 30% of residents · typical 42%Lower than 69%
Spending $52 per resident · typical $43Higher than 62%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Horicon Public Library serves 6,473 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out

Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.

27K
visits
4.1 per resident
41K
loans, print + digital
6.4 per resident
232
programs & events
2,717 attended
1,968
library cards
30% of people served
Every open hour15items borrowed
Every week52people at a program
Every day8Wi-Fi sessions
4 staff (full-time equivalent)7 public computers35K books & media on the shelves
What people borrow

Almost half the print loans are kids’ books

41K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

41Kloans
Books & media (adults) 43%Kids’ books & media 41%E-books, audio & streaming 16%
How hard the shelves work
1×

Each of the 35K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.

From your couch

6,632 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 2 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.

Schools in Horicon →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–550
Ages 6–1141
Teens12
Adults76
All ages53
Little ones
1

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

Kids’ books
19

children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Horicon last year.

2,717
people at programs
232
programs
The building

Find it

Horicon Public Library, 404 E. Lake St., Horicon.

53
hours open a week
5,972
square feet
35K
books & media
With a card

No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.

New in Horicon? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.91 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Horicon cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
1
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$348
a year at retail prices · $29 a month

Who pays for it
$52 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $336K.

Local taxes 89%Gifts & other 11%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $640K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $336K 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 1,968 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
HoriconHoricon Public Library fine-free6.453A+
HubbardNone of its own——C+
KekoskeeNone of its own——— graded with its twin city
Oak GroveNone of its own——C
BurnettNone 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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.

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 Horicon

Does Horicon have a public library?

Yes. Horicon Public Library, 404 E. Lake St., serves Horicon’s 6,473 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Horicon Public 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 Horicon’s library?

It logged 4.1 visits and lent 6.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.

What is Horicon’s civic life grade?

A+ Horicon is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns on civic life, #16 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 Horicon.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.