Photo: Amin Eshaiker · CC BY-SA 4.0Melvindale’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Melvindale Public Library serves Melvindale’s 12,851 residents. Last year it lent 17K books, movies and e-books and logged 10K visits.
The short version on Melvindale’s library
Melvindale Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Melvindale Public Library records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $17 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Melvindale Public Library offered 62 programs last year, 4.8 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Melvindale Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 10% of the people Melvindale Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 40% 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 Melvindale’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Melvindale is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns, #686 of 697 in Michigan. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Melvindale Public Library spends $17 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($32K–$53K) 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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Melvindale
1.0 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 (15 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.
6.5%
6.5% of Melvindale’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 Melvindale’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Melvindale Public Library serves 12,851 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
17K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 31K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
2,794 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
62 programs a year
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 Melvindale last year.
Find it
Melvindale Public Library, 18650 Allen Road, Melvindale.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Melvindale? 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 $1.23 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Melvindale cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $214K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $263K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $214K 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 1,248 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Melvindale ranks 3rd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allen Park | Allen Park Public Library fine-free | 3.6 | 47 | C− |
| Dearborn | Dearborn Public Library fine-free | 3.4 | 58 | C |
| Melvindale | Melvindale Public Library | 1.3 | 37 | D |
| Lincoln Park | Lincoln Park Public Library fine-free | 0.7 | 39 | D− |
| Detroit | Detroit Public Library fine-free | 0.5 | 51 | 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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Melvindale
Does Melvindale have a public library?
Yes. Melvindale Public Library, 18650 Allen Road, serves Melvindale’s 12,851 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Melvindale 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 Melvindale’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 1.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Melvindale’s civic life grade?
D Melvindale is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns on civic life, #686 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 Melvindale.
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.