Photo: Kitchener-Waterloo Record · Public domainAt 5.5 visits per person served, Cambridge Public Library is busier than 84% of Ontario’s town libraries
The 153,290 people Cambridge Public Library serves have 6 branches to choose from. 4.1 items per person served went out on loan in 2024. Ontario counts visits over one typical week and multiplies by 52, so the yearly figure is an estimate.
B−Civic life#298 of 866 in OntarioBehind Cambridge’s civic life grade
Civic life in Cambridge grades B−: #298 of the 866 towns graded in Ontario. Cambridge has every input a civic life grade uses: library visits per resident, charities per 1,000 residents and the province’s volunteering rate.
Informal groups and mutual aid go uncounted.
Sources: provincial statistics, the CRA, Statistics Canada.
214 registered charities give a Cambridge mailing address
That is 1.3 per 1,000 residents, against 1.4 in the typical Ontario 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.
32.1%
One figure covers all of Ontario: in 2023, 32.1% of its people gave time to an organization (between 31.0% and 33.2%), against a provincial range of 25.2% to 40.3%.
Statistics Canada, table 45-10-0039.
Ahead of most of Ontario’s town libraries on all 3 measures
Each figure is per person served, set against 195 town libraries in Ontario’s statistics for 2024.
Town libraries only; regional systems left out.
A typical week brings about 16,220 visits
What Cambridge Public Library counted in 2024, as the library reported it.
Cambridge’s 6 public libraries
Closest first, each distance a straight line from the centre of Cambridge.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Visits count everyone. Tourists, commuters and neighbours all add to the visits, and nobody records which of them live in Cambridge.
Questions about the library and civic life in Cambridge
Does Cambridge have a public library?
Yes, 6: Cambridge Public Library - Clemens Mill, Cambridge Public Library - Hespeler, Cambridge Public Library - Old Post Office, Cambridge Public Library - Preston and 2 more.
How busy is Cambridge Public Library?
Its 2024 report counts 843,440 visits in person and 628,049 items lent.
Library statistics: Ontario Public Library Statistics, 2024. 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).