Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US) · CC BY-SA 3.0Oshawa has 5 public library branches
Oshawa Public Libraries counts 186,375 people in its service area. Loans ran to 4.1 items per person served in 2024. Visits here are a typical week’s count times 52, Ontario’s method, so read them as an estimate.
C−Civic life#776 of 866 in OntarioBehind Oshawa’s civic life grade
With a C−, Oshawa ranks #776 of 866 Ontario towns on civic life. All three civic life inputs exist for Oshawa: library visits per resident, charities per 1,000 residents and the provincial volunteering rate.
Informal groups and mutual aid go uncounted.
Sources: provincial statistics, the CRA, Statistics Canada.
208 registered charities are based in Oshawa, by mailing address
It works out to 1 per 1,000 residents, where the typical Ontario town has 1.4 and Canada’s 1.4. 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%
Statistics Canada puts formal volunteering in Ontario at 32.1% in 2023, somewhere between 31.0% and 33.2%, for every town in the province alike; provinces range from 25.2% to 40.3%.
Statistics Canada, table 45-10-0039.
Ahead of most of Ontario’s town libraries on 2 of 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 9,577 visits
Everything counted at Oshawa Public Libraries in 2024: visits, loans and cards.
Oshawa’s 5 public libraries
Sorted by straight-line distance from the centre of Oshawa.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Library locations. The map joins OpenStreetMap with Statistics Canada’s 2020 cultural facilities list and leaves out school, college and private libraries.
Questions about the library and civic life in Oshawa
Does Oshawa have a public library?
Yes, 5: Campus Library, Oshawa Public Libraries - Delpark Centre Branch, Oshawa Public Libraries - Jess Hann Branch, Oshawa Public Libraries - John Aker Northview Branch and 1 more.
How busy is Oshawa Public Libraries?
People made 498,004 visits in person and borrowed 761,424 items in 2024.
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).