Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railroad Passsenger Station · Photo: TheCatalyst31 · CC0Rice Lake’s library logs 5.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Rice Lake Public Library serves Rice Lake’s 20,181 residents. Last year it lent 184K books, movies and e-books and logged 112K visits.
What stands out about Rice Lake’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Rice Lake’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Rice Lake is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns, #88 of 358 in Wisconsin. Rice Lake is graded on two of the three inputs. Rice Lake’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 →
92 community nonprofits are registered in Rice Lake
10.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (17 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.4%
7.4% of Rice Lake’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 Rice Lake’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 61 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Rice Lake Public Library serves 20,181 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
184K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 30K books and other items on the shelves went out about 4.5 times last year, on average.
49,632 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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 Rice Lake last year.
Find it
Rice Lake Public Library, 2 E. Marshall St., Rice Lake.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Rice Lake? 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 $3.18 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rice Lake cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $892K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $892K 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 7,065 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rice Lake | Rice Lake Public Library fine-free | 9.1 | 58 | A− |
| Stanley | None of its own | — | — | B− |
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 Rice Lake
Does Rice Lake have a public library?
Yes. Rice Lake Public Library, 2 E. Marshall St., serves Rice Lake’s 20,181 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rice Lake 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 Rice Lake’s library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 9.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Rice Lake’s civic life grade?
A− Rice Lake is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns on civic life, #88 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 Rice Lake.
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.