Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 4.0Bellwood’s library lends 0.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Bellwood Public Library serves Bellwood’s 18,789 residents. Last year it lent 17K print books and media and logged 44K visits.
What Bellwood’s library is like
Well funded, but lightly used
Bellwood Public Library spends $90 per resident, more than 87% of similar-size libraries. Use doesn’t match: visits per resident are lower than at 63% of them. What your card is worth ↓
People visit, but borrow less than most
Bellwood Public Library lends 0.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, fewer than 92% of similar-size libraries, though visits are closer to typical. What people borrow ↓
Programs lean toward adults
51% of the 427 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 189 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Bellwood Public Library holds 34,000 books and other items, but the average item went out about once every two years last year. What people borrow ↓
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 Bellwood’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Bellwood is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns, #650 of 754 in Illinois. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Bellwood’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Bellwood’s 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($60K–$99K) 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 →
57 community nonprofits are registered in Bellwood
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 (31 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
2.9%
2.9% of Bellwood’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.1% in the typical Illinois 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 Bellwood’s residents live; 2022.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bellwood cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $355K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.7M 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 5,745 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Bellwood Public Library serves 18,789 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
17K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Bellwood’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 34K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
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
Bellwood Public Library, 600 Bohland Avenue, Bellwood.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Libraries next door
Bellwood ranks 5th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkeley | Berkeley Public Library fine-free | 4.8 | 54 | C+ |
| Westchester | Westchester Public Library fine-free | 4.2 | 56 | B− |
| Hillside | Hillside Public Library fine-free | 2.7 | 58 | C+ |
| Melrose Park | Melrose Park Public Library fine-free | 1.0 | 42 | D− |
| Bellwood | Bellwood Public Library fine-free | 0.9 | 58 | D |
| Maywood | Maywood Public Library District | 0.6 | 55 | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Bellwood Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. Illinois libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Bellwood
Does Bellwood have a public library?
Yes. Bellwood Public Library, 600 Bohland Avenue, serves Bellwood’s 18,789 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bellwood Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Bellwood’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 0.9 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Bellwood’s civic life grade?
D Bellwood is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns on civic life, #650 of 754 in Illinois. 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 Bellwood.
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.