Grand Ledge Chair Company Plant · Photo: Holofect · CC BY-SA 3.0Grand Ledge’s library logs 4.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Grand Ledge Area District Library serves 16,280 people in and around Grand Ledge. Last year it lent 175K books, movies and e-books and logged 74K visits.
The short version on Grand Ledge’s library
44% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 44% of loans, more per resident than at 96% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 56%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
Programs draw a crowd
22,000 people came to the system’s 526 programs last year: 1.4 per resident, against a typical 0.4, more than at 94% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Most programs are for young children
68% of the 526 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.7 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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; Grand Ledge Area District Library serves 16,280 people in and around Grand Ledge, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Grand Ledge’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Grand Ledge is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns, #231 of 697 in Michigan. Grand Ledge is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Grand Ledge’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 →
26 community nonprofits are registered in Grand Ledge
3.4 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
11.9%
11.9% of Grand Ledge’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 Grand Ledge’s residents live; 2022.
About 7 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Grand Ledge Area District Library serves 16,280 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 56 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Grand Ledge Area District Library system. The library’s own count.
44% of borrowing is digital
175K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
76,537 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Grand Ledge Area District Library, 131 East Jefferson Street, Grand Ledge.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Grand Ledge Area District Library branch.
New in Grand Ledge? 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 $3.55 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Grand Ledge cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $793K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $793K 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 7,203 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Ledge | Grand Ledge Area District Library fine-free | — | 60 | B+ |
| Oneida Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Eagle Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
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.
- System-wide. Grand Ledge Area District Library serves 16,280 people in and around Grand Ledge, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Grand Ledge.
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 Grand Ledge
Does Grand Ledge have a public library?
Yes. Grand Ledge Area District Library, 131 East Jefferson Street, serves 16,280 people in and around Grand Ledge (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Grand Ledge Area 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 Grand Ledge’s library?
It logged 4.6 visits and lent 10.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Grand Ledge’s civic life grade?
B+ Grand Ledge is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns on civic life, #231 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 Grand Ledge.
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.