Forest Park’s library is a branch of Clayton County Library System, which lends less per resident than 96% of systems its size
Forest Park’s library is the Forest Park Branch Library, a branch of Clayton County Library System, which serves 302,512 people and lent 229K items last year.
What Forest Park’s library is like
The Clayton County Library System is used less than most libraries its size
The Clayton County Library System records 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries serving 100,000+ people. Borrowing is 0.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2. It also spends less than most: $20 per resident, against a typical $36. How it compares ↓
Georgia pays a big share
29% of the budget comes from the state, and 69% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. 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; Forest Park’s library is a branch of Clayton County Library System, so they cover the whole system (302,512 people), not just the Forest Park branch.
What’s behind Forest Park’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Forest Park is ahead of 8% of U.S. towns, #168 of 222 in Georgia. Forest Park is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Forest Park’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Clayton County Library System spends $20 per resident, against a typical $36 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($31K–$52K) 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 →
60 community nonprofits are registered in Forest Park
3.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (32 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
1.8%
1.8% of Forest Park’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.9% in the typical Georgia 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 Forest Park’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Clayton County Library System serves 302,512 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Clayton County Library System system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
229K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
61,614 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 24 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, 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
Forest Park Branch Library, 4812 West Street, Forest Park.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Clayton County Library System branch.
New in Forest Park? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Forest Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $5.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.9M 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 129,591 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
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.
- System-wide. Forest Park Branch Library is one branch of Clayton County Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 302,512 people it serves.
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 Forest Park
Does Forest Park have a public library?
Yes: Forest Park Branch Library, 4812 West Street, is a branch of Clayton County Library System, which serves 302,512 people. The branch is open about 57 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Clayton County Library System 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 Forest Park’s library?
It logged 1.1 visits and lent 0.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Forest Park’s civic life grade?
D Forest Park is ahead of 8% of U.S. towns on civic life, #168 of 222 in Georgia. 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 Forest Park.
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.