Menlo Park Railroad Station · Photo: Ron Reiring from Inland Empire of Southern California, USA · CC BY 2.0Menlo Park’s library lends 15 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Menlo Park Public Library serves Menlo Park’s 33,140 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 685K books, movies and e-books and logged 168K visits.
The short version on Menlo Park’s library
Menlo Park uses its library more than almost any town its size
Menlo Park Public Library logs 5.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, and lends 15 print items per resident against a typical 3.7. On both counts it beats 88% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 6 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 97% of similar-size libraries. It’s 29% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Top 10% in California for borrowing
Menlo Park ranks #5 of 117 California towns with a library of their own for items borrowed per resident. Print borrowing alone runs 15 items per resident, more than at 97% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 41% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 94% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 29 items per child in Menlo Park last year. Kids & programs ↓
Nearly everyone in Menlo Park has a card
29,651 cards for 33,140 people, or 89%. 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.
What’s behind Menlo Park’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Menlo Park is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns, #87 of 448 in California. Menlo Park’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 →
224 community nonprofits are registered in Menlo Park
6.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (47 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 18 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.5%
6.5% of Menlo Park’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.9% in the typical California 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 Menlo Park’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
685K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 110K books and other items on the shelves went out about 4.4 times last year, on average.
197,527 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 all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Menlo Park Public Library serves 33,140 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 122 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
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 Menlo Park last year.
2 places to borrow in Menlo Park
Menlo Park Public Library, 800 Alma St., Menlo Park.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Menlo Park? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Menlo Park
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.62 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Menlo Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $12M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.3M 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 29,651 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Menlo Park borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Menlo Park | Menlo Park Public Library fine-free | 20.7 | 54 | B+ |
| Palo Alto | Mitchell Park Branch fine-free | 19.9 | 47 | A |
| Redwood City | Redwood City Public Library fine-free | 12.3 | 63 | B− |
| East Palo Alto | East Palo Alto Library fine-free | — | 57 | C |
| Atherton | Atherton Library fine-free | — | 57 | B |
| Fremont | Fremont Main Library fine-free | — | 46 | C |
| Woodside | Woodside Library fine-free | — | 57 | B+ |
| West Menlo Park | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Stanford | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Menlo Park Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Menlo Park
Does Menlo Park have a public library?
Yes. Menlo Park Public Library, 800 Alma St., serves Menlo Park’s 33,140 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Menlo Park 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 Menlo Park’s library?
It logged 5.1 visits and lent 20.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Menlo Park’s civic life grade?
B+ Menlo Park is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns on civic life, #87 of 448 in California. 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 Menlo Park.
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.