Photo: Greg Tally - User: (WT-shared) WineCountryInn at wts wikivoyage · CC BY-SA 3.0Sturgeon Bay’s library logs 7.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Door County Library serves 30,885 people in and around Sturgeon Bay. Last year it lent 319K books, movies and e-books and logged 232K visits.
Sturgeon Bay’s library, in brief
Visits are the system’s strong suit
Door County Library logs 7.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 96% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 7.4 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Carnegie Free Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988. Today’s library there has 26,629 square feet. The building ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.9 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 87% of similar-size libraries. It’s 28% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
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; Door County Library serves 30,885 people in and around Sturgeon Bay, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Sturgeon Bay’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Sturgeon Bay is ahead of 98% of U.S. towns, #6 of 358 in Wisconsin. Sturgeon Bay is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Sturgeon Bay’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 →
116 community nonprofits are registered in Sturgeon Bay
11.8 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 (19 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
11.1%
11.1% of Sturgeon Bay’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 Sturgeon Bay’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 27 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Door County Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Door County Library serves 30,885 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
319K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
90,581 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, 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.
A National Register landmark since 1988
Door County Library, 107 S. 4th Ave., Sturgeon Bay.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Door County Library branch.
New in Sturgeon Bay? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Carnegie Free Library
Carnegie Free Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Dec 29, 1988. It is significant for its education and architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Classical Revival.
The Carnegie Free Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.45 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sturgeon Bay cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.1M 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 22,482 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sturgeon Bay | Door County Library | — | 56 | A+ |
| Nasewaupee | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Sevastopol | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
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. Door County Library serves 30,885 people in and around Sturgeon Bay, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Sturgeon Bay.
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 Sturgeon Bay
Does Sturgeon Bay have a public library?
Yes. Door County Library, 107 S. 4th Ave., serves 30,885 people in and around Sturgeon Bay (the survey’s count) and is open about 56 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Door 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 Sturgeon Bay’s library?
It logged 7.5 visits and lent 10.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Sturgeon Bay’s civic life grade?
A+ Sturgeon Bay is ahead of 98% of U.S. towns on civic life, #6 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 Sturgeon Bay.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.