Photo: Dwight Burdette · CC BY 3.0Dearborn Heights’ library logs 3.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Dearborn Heights City Libraries serves Dearborn Heights’s 63,292 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 165K books, movies and e-books and logged 220K visits.
What Dearborn Heights’s library is like
Few programs for a library this size
Dearborn Heights City Libraries offered 151 programs last year, 2.4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 13% of the people Dearborn Heights City Libraries serves have a library card, against a typical 39% 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 Dearborn Heights’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Dearborn Heights is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns, #635 of 697 in Michigan. Library visits hold the grade up; Dearborn Heights’ count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($45K–$75K) 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 →
101 community nonprofits are registered in Dearborn Heights
1.6 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 (34 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.
7.3%
7.3% of Dearborn Heights’ 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 Dearborn Heights’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Dearborn Heights City Libraries serves 63,292 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
165K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 137K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
24,847 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Dearborn Heights last year.
2 places to borrow in Dearborn Heights
Dearborn Heights City Libraries, 24590 George Street, Dearborn Heights.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Dearborn Heights? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Dearborn Heights
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.14 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Dearborn Heights cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.3M 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 8,287 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Dearborn Heights ranks 5th of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redford Township | Redford Township District Library fine-free | 4.5 | 56 | C− |
| Allen Park | Allen Park Public Library fine-free | 3.6 | 47 | C− |
| Dearborn | Dearborn Public Library fine-free | 3.4 | 58 | C |
| Westland | William P. Faust Public Library of Westland fine-free | 3.2 | 67 | D |
| Dearborn Heights | Dearborn Heights City Libraries fine-free | 2.6 | 54 | C |
| Taylor | Taylor Community Library fine-free | 2.5 | 52 | D |
| Detroit | Detroit Public Library fine-free | 0.5 | 51 | D |
| Inkster | Leanna Hicks Public Library of Inkster | 0.3 | 37 | 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. Dearborn Heights City Libraries 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 Dearborn Heights
Does Dearborn Heights have a public library?
Yes. Dearborn Heights City Libraries, 24590 George Street, serves Dearborn Heights’ 63,292 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dearborn Heights City Libraries 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 Dearborn Heights’ library?
It logged 3.5 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Dearborn Heights’ civic life grade?
C Dearborn Heights is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns on civic life, #635 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 Dearborn Heights.
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.