Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5Ripley’s library lends 1.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Jackson County Public Library serves 27,791 people in and around Ripley. Last year it lent 70K books, movies and e-books and logged 42K visits.
What Ripley’s library is like
West Virginia pays a big share
31% of the budget comes from the state, and 68% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
46% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 46% of loans. That’s partly because print borrowing is low: digital loans per resident are below typical too. What people borrow ↓
75% of the people it serves carry a library card
20,807 cards for 27,791 people, or 75%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
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; Jackson County Public Library serves 27,791 people in and around Ripley, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Ripley’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ripley is ahead of 86% of U.S. towns, #16 of 48 in West Virginia. Ripley 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.
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 →
15 community nonprofits are registered in Ripley
5.0 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.4%
10.4% of Ripley’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.9% in the typical West Virginia 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 Ripley’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Jackson County Public Library serves 27,791 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Jackson County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
46% of borrowing is digital
70K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Ripley’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
32,017 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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
Jackson County Public Library, 208 N. Church St., Ripley.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Jackson County Public Library branch.
New in Ripley? 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 $2.38 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ripley cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $494K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $494K 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 20,807 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Jackson County Public Library serves 27,791 people in and around Ripley, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ripley.
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 Ripley
Does Ripley have a public library?
Yes. Jackson County Public Library, 208 N. Church St., serves 27,791 people in and around Ripley (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Jackson County 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 Ripley’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 2.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Ripley’s civic life grade?
A Ripley is ahead of 86% of U.S. towns on civic life, #16 of 48 in West Virginia. 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 Ripley.
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.