Photo: Aaron Linville · CC BY-SA 4.0Harbor Beach’s library runs 24 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Harbor Beach Area District Library serves 5,756 people in and around Harbor Beach. Last year it lent 31K books, movies and e-books and logged 13K visits.
What stands out about Harbor Beach Area District Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Harbor Beach’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Harbor Beach is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns. Harbor Beach is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Harbor Beach
4.5 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
15.8%
15.8% of Harbor Beach’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 Harbor Beach’s residents live; 2022.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.01 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Harbor Beach cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $519K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $526K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $519K 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 1,531 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Harbor Beach Area District Library serves 5,756 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Harbor Beach Area District Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
31K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
7,158 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
136 programs a year
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
Harbor Beach Area District Library, 105 North Huron Avenue, Harbor Beach.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Harbor Beach Area District Library branch.
New in Harbor Beach? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Harbor Beach Area District Library serves 5,756 people in and around Harbor Beach, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Harbor Beach.
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 Harbor Beach
Does Harbor Beach have a public library?
Yes. Harbor Beach Area District Library, 105 North Huron Avenue, serves 5,756 people in and around Harbor Beach (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Harbor Beach Area District Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Harbor Beach’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 5.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Harbor Beach’s civic life grade?
A Harbor Beach is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Harbor Beach.
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.