Photo: Boscophotos · CC BY-SA 3.0Maywood’s library lends 0.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Maywood Public Library District serves Maywood’s 23,568 residents. Last year it lent 14K books, movies and e-books and logged 30K visits.
What Maywood’s library is like
Maywood Public Library District is used less than most libraries its size
Maywood Public Library District records 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 0.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. How it compares ↓
Every town next door borrows more
Maywood’s library lends 0.6 items per resident. Each of the seven neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by River Forest at 14. Libraries next door ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Maywood Public Library District charges late fines on some overdue items. All seven libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 11% of the people Maywood Public Library District serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
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 Maywood’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Maywood is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns, #646 of 754 in Illinois. Maywood’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Maywood’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 ($52K–$86K) 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 →
98 community nonprofits are registered in Maywood
4.2 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 (41 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
2.9%
2.9% of Maywood’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 Maywood’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Maywood Public Library District serves 23,568 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
14K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 38K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
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.
Find it
Maywood Public Library District, 121 South Fifth Avenue, Maywood.
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 Maywood cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $328K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 2,562 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Maywood ranks 8th of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| River Forest | River Forest Public Library fine-free | 13.7 | 67 | A+ |
| River Forest Township | River Forest Public Library fine-free | 13.7 | 67 | — graded with its twin city |
| Forest Park | Forest Park Public Library fine-free | 7.2 | 69 | A |
| Proviso Township | Forest Park Public Library fine-free | 7.2 | 69 | C− |
| Broadview | Broadview Public Library District fine-free | 3.1 | 49 | B− |
| 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. Maywood Public Library District counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Maywood
Does Maywood have a public library?
Yes. Maywood Public Library District, 121 South Fifth Avenue, serves Maywood’s 23,568 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Maywood Public Library District fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Maywood’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 0.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Maywood’s civic life grade?
D Maywood is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns on civic life, #646 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 Maywood.
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.