Photo: Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States · CC BY 2.0Marquette’s library logs 4.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Peter White Public Library serves 35,963 people in and around Marquette. Last year it lent 263K books, movies and e-books and logged 167K visits.
What stands out about Peter White Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Marquette’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Marquette is among the top 1% of U.S. towns, #2 of 697 in Michigan. Marquette is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Marquette near the top nationally; 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 →
223 community nonprofits are registered in Marquette
10.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (30 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
17.9%
17.9% of Marquette’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 Marquette’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 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Peter White Public Library serves 35,963 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 86 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Peter White Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
263K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
53,677 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Peter White Public Library, 217 North Front Street, Marquette.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Peter White Public Library branch.
New in Marquette? 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 $1.82 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Marquette cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.3M 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 16,897 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marquette | Peter White Public Library | — | 59 | A+ |
| Marquette Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Trowbridge Park | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Sands Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Harvey | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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. Peter White Public Library serves 35,963 people in and around Marquette, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Marquette.
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 Marquette
Does Marquette have a public library?
Yes. Peter White Public Library, 217 North Front Street, serves 35,963 people in and around Marquette (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Peter White Public 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 Marquette’s library?
It logged 4.6 visits and lent 7.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Marquette’s civic life grade?
A+ Marquette is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life, #2 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 Marquette.
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.