Photo: Gogerr · CC BY-SA 4.0At 6.4 loans per person served, St. Catharines Public Library lends more than 84% of Ontario’s town libraries
St. Catharines Public Library has 6 branches for the 136,803 people it serves. Visits ran to 3.1 per person served in 2024. Ontario counts visits over one typical week and multiplies by 52, so the yearly figure is an estimate.
C+Civic life#497 of 866 in OntarioBehind St. Catharines’s civic life grade
With a C+, St. Catharines ranks #497 of 866 Ontario towns on civic life. St. Catharines 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.
272 registered charities are based in St. Catharines, by mailing address
It works out to 1.8 per 1,000 residents, where the typical Ontario town has 1.4 and Canada’s 1.4. The CRA files each charity under its mailing address, so a service town collects its region’s charities and a suburb or rural municipality few.
32.1%
For 2023, the provincial survey estimates that 32.1% of people in Ontario volunteered formally (likely 31.0% to 33.2%); among the ten provinces the rate goes from 25.2% to 40.3%.
Statistics Canada, table 45-10-0039.
Ahead of most of Ontario’s town libraries on 1 of 3 measures
Per person served, against the 195 town libraries in Ontario’s 2024 statistics.
Town libraries only; regional systems left out.
A typical week brings about 8,131 visits
The year 2024 at St. Catharines Public Library, in the library’s own counts.
St. Catharines’s 6 public libraries
Sorted by straight-line distance from the centre of St. Catharines.
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 St. Catharines
Does St. Catharines have a public library?
Yes, 6: St. Catharines Public Library - Central Library, St. Catharines Public Library - Dr. Huq Family Branch, St. Catharines Public Library - Merritt Branch, St. Catherines Public Library - Port Dalhousie Branch and 2 more.
How busy is St. Catharines Public Library?
Its 2024 report counts 422,812 visits in person and 873,143 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).