Old Indian Agency House (Boundary Increase) · Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0Portage’s library logs 4.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Portage Public Library serves Portage’s 17,381 residents. Last year it lent 131K books, movies and e-books and logged 84K visits.
The short version on Portage’s library
Above typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, Portage Public Library is above the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, with three in the top 30%. No single number stands out, and none lags far behind. How it compares ↓
A place to get online
Portage Public Library logs about 346 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 14 public computers. That’s 7.3 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Programs lean toward adults
55% of the 578 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 194 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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.
What’s behind Portage’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Portage is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns, #175 of 358 in Wisconsin. Portage is graded on two of the three inputs. Portage’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 →
74 community nonprofits are registered in Portage
7.2 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 (14 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.1%
6.1% of Portage’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 Portage’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Portage Public Library serves 17,381 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 47 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
131K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 59K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.8 times last year, on average.
27,489 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Portage last year.
Find it
Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Portage? 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 $2.68 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Portage cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $921K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $921K 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 7,659 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portage | Portage Public Library | 7.6 | 54 | B |
| Fort Winnebago | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Pacific | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Lewiston | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Caledonia | None of its own | — | — | D |
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.
- 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 Portage
Does Portage have a public library?
Yes. Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., serves Portage’s 17,381 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Portage Public 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 Portage’s library?
It logged 4.8 visits and lent 7.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Portage’s civic life grade?
B Portage is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns on civic life, #175 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 Portage.
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.