Photo: Bnperdue2010 · CC BY-SA 4.0Woodridge’s library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Woodridge Public Library serves Woodridge’s 34,158 residents. Last year it lent 426K print books and media and logged 170K visits.
Woodridge’s library, in brief
Woodridge uses its library more than almost any town its size
Woodridge Public Library logs 5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, and lends 12 print items per resident against a typical 3.7. On both counts it beats 86% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Open about 70 hours a week
Woodridge Public Library is open about 70 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 117 items go out. The building ↓
A place to get online
Woodridge Public Library logs about 833 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 44 public computers. That’s 8.9 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Woodridge invests in its library
Woodridge Public Library spends $85 per resident a year, about twice the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (91%) 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 Woodridge’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Woodridge is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns, #515 of 754 in Illinois. Library visits hold the grade up; Woodridge’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($76K–$126K) 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 Woodridge
1.7 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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 10 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.1%
6.1% of Woodridge’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 Woodridge’s residents live; 2022.
Books and media off the shelf
426K 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 Woodridge’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 154K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.8 times last year, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Woodridge Public Library serves 34,158 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 117 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 8 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
Woodridge Public Library, 3 Plaza Drive, Woodridge.
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 $2.88 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Woodridge cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.9M 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 23,971 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Woodridge ranks 3rd of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downers Grove | Downers Grove Public Library fine-free | 18.0 | 70 | A− |
| Downers Grove Township | Downers Grove Public Library fine-free | 18.0 | 70 | C+ |
| Woodridge | Woodridge Public Library fine-free | 12.5 | 70 | C |
| Lisle | Lisle Library District fine-free | 11.6 | 67 | B |
| Bolingbrook | Fountaindale Public Library District fine-free | 9.3 | 72 | D |
| Lemont | Lemont Public Library District fine-free | 7.2 | 66 | A− |
| Lemont Township | Lemont Public Library District fine-free | 7.2 | 66 | B+ |
| Romeoville | White Oak Library District fine-free | 6.5 | 61 | D− |
| Darien | Indian Prairie Public Library District fine-free | — | 66 | C+ |
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 Woodridge
Does Woodridge have a public library?
Yes. Woodridge Public Library, 3 Plaza Drive, serves Woodridge’s 34,158 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 70 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Woodridge Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Woodridge’s library?
It logged 5.0 visits and lent 12.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Woodridge’s civic life grade?
C Woodridge is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns on civic life, #515 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 Woodridge.
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.