Photo: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0Buffalo’s library logs 4.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Johnson County Library System serves 8,759 people in and around Buffalo. Last year it lent 75K books, movies and e-books and logged 43K visits.
Buffalo’s library, in brief
The branch is a National Register landmark
Carnegie Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. Today’s library there has 18,500 square feet. The building ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 89% of similar-size libraries. It’s 35% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Most programs are for young children
69% of the 246 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.2 a week for ages 0–5. 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; Johnson County Library System serves 8,759 people in and around Buffalo, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Buffalo’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Buffalo is ahead of 95% of U.S. towns, #6 of 24 in Wyoming. Buffalo is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Buffalo’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 →
92 community nonprofits are registered in Buffalo
20.1 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.5%
9.5% of Buffalo’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.3% in the typical Wyoming 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 Buffalo’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
75K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
26,545 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Johnson County Library System serves 8,759 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 22 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Johnson County Library System system. The library’s own count.
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.
A National Register landmark since 1976
Johnson County Library System, 171 North Adams, Buffalo.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Johnson County Library System branch.
New in Buffalo? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Carnegie Public Library
Carnegie Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Nov 7, 1976. It is significant for its education and architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Neoclassical.
The Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum is an American West museum in Buffalo, Wyoming, housed in a 1909 Carnegie Library building.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.28 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Buffalo cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $534K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $534K 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 4,427 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Johnson County Library System serves 8,759 people in and around Buffalo, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Buffalo.
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 Buffalo
Does Buffalo have a public library?
Yes. Johnson County Library System, 171 North Adams, serves 8,759 people in and around Buffalo (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Johnson County Library System 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 Buffalo’s library?
It logged 4.9 visits and lent 8.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Buffalo’s civic life grade?
A+ Buffalo is ahead of 95% of U.S. towns on civic life, #6 of 24 in Wyoming. 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 Buffalo.
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.