Photo: Dennisyerger84 · CC BY-SA 3.0Thornton Township’s library logs 5.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Homewood Public Library District serves 19,520 people in and around Thornton Township. Last year it lent 146K print books and media and logged 114K visits.
What Thornton Township’s library is like
Thornton Township out-borrows every town next door
At 7.5 loans per resident, Thornton Township leads the eight towns here. The closest is Chicago, at 3.9. Libraries next door ↓
Open about 67 hours a week
Homewood Public Library District is open about 67 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 42 items go out. The buildings ↓
Thornton Township invests in its library
Homewood Public Library District spends $108 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (96%) comes from local taxes. 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 Thornton Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Thornton Township is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns, #642 of 754 in Illinois. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #253. Thornton Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Thornton Township’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($44K–$73K) 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 →
547 community nonprofits are registered in Thornton Township
3.6 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 (309 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 48 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
2.9%
2.9% of Thornton Township’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 Thornton Township’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 42 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Homewood Public Library District serves 19,520 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Books and media off the shelf
146K 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 Thornton Township’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 87K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.7 times 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.
9 places to borrow in Thornton Township
Homewood Public Library District, 17917 Dixie Highway, Homewood.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Thornton Township
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.25 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Thornton Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $2.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.1M 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 5,434 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Thornton Township borrows the most per resident of the 8 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thornton Township | Homewood Public Library District | 7.5 | 67 | D |
| Chicago | Chicago Public Library fine-free | 3.9 | 72 | C− |
| Thornton | Thornton Public Library | 3.0 | 52 | C+ |
| Lansing | Lansing Public Library fine-free | 2.8 | 60 | C |
| North Township | Hammond Public Library | 1.9 | 64 | C− |
| Hammond | Hammond Public Library | 1.9 | 64 | D− |
| Riverdale | Riverdale Public Library District fine-free | 0.5 | 43 | D− |
| Calumet Township | Calumet Park Public Library | 0.3 | 43 | D− |
| Bremen Township | Acorn Public Library District fine-free | — | 64 | D |
| Bloom Township | Glenwood-Lynwood Public Library District fine-free | — | 51 | C− |
| Burnham | None of its own | — | — | 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.
- 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 Thornton Township
Does Thornton Township have a public library?
Yes. Homewood Public Library District, 17917 Dixie Highway, serves 19,520 people in and around Thornton Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 67 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Homewood Public Library District fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Thornton Township’s library?
It logged 5.8 visits and lent 7.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Thornton Township’s civic life grade?
D Thornton Township is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns on civic life, #642 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 Thornton Township.
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.