Photo: makemake · CC BY-SA 3.0Milford’s library runs 10 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Milford Public Library serves 52,793 people in and around Milford. Last year it lent 295K books, movies and e-books and logged 118K visits.
What Milford’s library is like
The library is a National Register landmark
Taylor Memorial Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. Today’s library there has 39,072 square feet. The building ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Milford Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
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 Milford’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Milford is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns, #132 of 155 in Connecticut. Milford’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($83K–$138K) 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 →
202 community nonprofits are registered in Milford
3.8 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 (26 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.5%
5.5% of Milford’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 Milford’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1979
Milford Public Library, 57 New Haven Ave., Milford.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Milford? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Taylor Memorial Library
Taylor Memorial Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Aug 21, 1979. It is significant for its architecture at the state level. Its architecture is described as Richardsonian Romanesque.
The Taylor Memorial Library, also known as Taylor Library or Old Library, is a historic former library building at 5 Broad Street in Milford, Connecticut. Built in 1894, it is a Richardsonian Romanesque building designed by Joseph W. Northrop. It follows, but departs from, H. H. Richardson's design of the Crane Memorial Library in Massachusetts.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Milford Public Library serves 52,793 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 115 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
295K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 123K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
58,431 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.40 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Milford cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 19,409 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Milford ranks 3rd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange | Case Memorial Library fine-free | 10.1 | 53 | B |
| Stratford | Stratford Library Association fine-free | 5.8 | 57 | C− |
| Milford | Milford Public Library | 5.6 | 50 | C− |
| Shelton | Plumb Memorial Library fine-free | 3.8 | 37 | C |
| West Haven | West Haven Public Library fine-free | 2.4 | 57 | D |
| Woodmont | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Oronoque | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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 Milford
Does Milford have a public library?
Yes. Milford Public Library, 57 New Haven Ave., serves 52,793 people in and around Milford (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Milford Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Milford’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 5.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Milford’s civic life grade?
C− Milford is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns on civic life, #132 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 Milford.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.