Photo: Shawn from Airdrie, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0At 3.4 visits per person served, Surrey Libraries is quieter than 76% of British Columbia’s town libraries
Newton is served by Surrey Libraries, the library of all of Surrey, so the figures here are the city’s, for 703,615 people. The figures come from British Columbia’s public library statistics for 2025, as the library filed them.
C+Civic life#208 of 254 in British ColumbiaBehind Newton’s civic life grade
Newton gets a C+ for civic life, #208 of 254 towns graded in British Columbia. A civic life grade combines library visits per resident, registered charities per 1,000 residents and the province’s volunteering rate, and all three exist for Newton.
Informal groups and mutual aid go uncounted.
Sources: provincial statistics, the CRA, Statistics Canada.
697 registered charities are based in Surrey, by mailing address
There is no count for Newton on its own: the charities are those of all of Surrey. That is 1 per 1,000 residents, against 1.2 in the typical British Columbia town and 1.4 across Canada. Counting by mailing address favors a service town, where the surrounding area’s charities get their mail, over the suburbs and countryside around it.
36.9%
In 2023, 36.9% of people in British Columbia volunteered formally: one estimate for the whole province, likely between 35.2% and 38.7%, in a range of 25.2% to 40.3% across the ten provinces.
Statistics Canada, table 45-10-0039.
Behind most of British Columbia’s town libraries on all 2 measures
Per person served, against the 32 town libraries in British Columbia’s 2025 statistics.
Town libraries only; regional systems left out.
Some 6,587 visits on an average day
Everything counted at Surrey Libraries in 2025: visits, loans and cards.
Newton’s public library
Nearest first, measured in a straight line from the centre of Newton.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Library locations. Public library locations are taken from OpenStreetMap and a 2020 Statistics Canada inventory, merged where both list one place.
Questions about the library and civic life in Newton
Does Newton have a public library?
Yes: SL: Newton Branch.
How busy is Surrey Libraries?
It counted 2,404,116 in-person visits in 2025.
Library statistics: BC Public Libraries Statistics, 2025. Library locations: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Statistics Canada, Open Database of Cultural and Art Facilities (2020). Charities: Canada Revenue Agency, List of charities (2024), charitable organizations only.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).