Photo: Rmburza · CC BY 4.0Allegan’s library logs 5.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Allegan District Library serves 18,279 people in and around Allegan. Last year it lent 56K books, movies and e-books and logged 95K visits.
What stands out about Allegan District Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Allegan’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Allegan is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns, #383 of 697 in Michigan. Allegan is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Allegan’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Allegan
2.8 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.6%
10.6% of Allegan’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 12.4% in the typical Michigan 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 Allegan’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Allegan District Library serves 18,279 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Allegan District Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
56K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
19,693 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, 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
Allegan District Library, 331 Hubbard Street, Allegan.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Allegan District Library branch.
New in Allegan? The Handbook →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 $1.17 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Allegan cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $960K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $960K 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 4,311 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Allegan District Library serves 18,279 people in and around Allegan, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Allegan.
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 Allegan
Does Allegan have a public library?
Yes. Allegan District Library, 331 Hubbard Street, serves 18,279 people in and around Allegan (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Allegan District Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Allegan’s library?
It logged 5.2 visits and lent 3.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Allegan’s civic life grade?
B Allegan is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns on civic life, #383 of 697 in Michigan. 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 Allegan.
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.