Photo: Dual Freq · CC BY 2.5Milford’s library logs 6.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Milford District Library serves 2,210 people in and around Milford. Last year it lent 7,279 books, movies and e-books and logged 14K visits.
What Milford’s library is like
Few programs for a library this size
Milford District Library offered 9 programs last year, 4.1 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Milford District Library serves 2,210 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 46 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 13% of the people Milford District Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
Milford District Library serves more than Milford
The library’s service area covers 2,210 people in and around Milford, so its per-resident numbers are measured against that wider population. How it compares ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 0% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Milford’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Milford is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns. Milford is graded on two of the three inputs. Milford’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Milford
9.5 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.3%
7.3% of Milford’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 Milford’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Milford District Library serves 2,210 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
7,279 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 17K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
9 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Milford District Library, 2 South Grant Avenue, Milford.
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 $1.23 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Milford cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $103K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $127K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $103K 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 294 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 District Library, 2 South Grant Avenue, serves 2,210 people in and around Milford (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Milford District Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Milford’s library?
It logged 6.1 visits and lent 3.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Milford’s civic life grade?
A− Milford is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.