Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0Meriden’s library lends 1.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Meriden Public Library serves 60,111 people in and around Meriden. Last year it lent 127K books, movies and e-books and logged 125K visits.
What Meriden’s library is like
Every town next door borrows more
Meriden’s library lends 2.1 items per resident. Each of the six neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Cheshire at 11. Libraries next door ↓
A place to get online
Meriden Public Library logs about 3,491 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 52 public computers. That’s 21 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
What’s behind Meriden’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Meriden is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns, #147 of 155 in Connecticut. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Meriden’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($53K–$89K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
171 community nonprofits are registered in Meriden
2.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (58 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.5%
4.5% of Meriden’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.5% in the typical Connecticut town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Meriden’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Meriden Public Library serves 60,111 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 48 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
127K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 83K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
42,948 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
Meriden Public Library, 105 Miller St., Meriden.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Meriden? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.34 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Meriden cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.6M budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 20,893 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Meriden ranks 7th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheshire | Cheshire Public Library fine-free | 10.8 | 61 | B+ |
| Wallingford | Wallingford Public Library fine-free | 9.9 | 65 | B |
| Berlin | Berlin-Peck Memorial Library fine-free | 9.9 | 53 | C |
| Southington | Southington Public Library | 7.2 | 55 | C |
| Middlefield | Levi E.Coe Library fine-free | 6.7 | 34 | B+ |
| Middletown | Russell Library fine-free | 5.5 | 60 | B− |
| Meriden | Meriden Public Library fine-free | 2.1 | 53 | D |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Meriden
Does Meriden have a public library?
Yes. Meriden Public Library, 105 Miller St., serves 60,111 people in and around Meriden (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Meriden Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Meriden’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 2.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Meriden’s civic life grade?
D Meriden is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns on civic life, #147 of 155 in Connecticut. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Meriden.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.