Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US) · CC BY-SA 3.0At 5.4 loans per person served, Whitby Public Library lends more than 75% of Ontario’s town libraries
From 3 branches, Whitby Public Library serves 150,700 people. It counted 3.2 in-person visits per person served in 2024. Ontario counts visits over one typical week and multiplies by 52, so the yearly figure is an estimate.
CCivic life#752 of 866 in OntarioBehind Whitby’s civic life grade
Civic life in Whitby grades C: #752 of the 866 towns graded in Ontario. Whitby 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.
149 registered charities are based in Whitby, by mailing address
It works out to 0.9 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%
The whole province shares one estimate: 32.1% of people in Ontario volunteered formally in 2023 (between 31.0% and 33.2%), where the ten provinces run 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
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 9,300 visits
The year 2024 at Whitby Public Library, in the library’s own counts.
3 public libraries in Whitby
In order of distance from the centre of Whitby, as the crow flies.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Library locations. Statistics Canada’s 2020 facilities list and OpenStreetMap supply the points; libraries of schools, colleges and hospitals are not shown.
Questions about the library and civic life in Whitby
Does Whitby have a public library?
Yes, 3: Whitby Public Library - Rossland Branch, Whitby Public Library - Brooklin Branch and Whitby Public Library - Central Branch.
How busy is Whitby Public Library?
Over 2024: 817,951 items out on loan, 483,600 visits through the door.
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).