Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0Menominee’s library logs 4.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Spies Public Library serves 9,498 people in and around Menominee. Last year it lent 49K books, movies and e-books and logged 46K visits.
What’s behind Menominee’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Menominee is ahead of 93% of U.S. towns, #58 of 697 in Michigan. All three 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 →
50 community nonprofits are registered in Menominee
6.0 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 (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
18.0%
18.0% of Menominee’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 Menominee’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Spies Public Library serves 9,498 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 21 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Spies Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
49K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
9,546 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, 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
Spies Public Library, 940 First Street, Menominee.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Spies Public Library branch.
New in Menominee? 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 $1.32 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Menominee cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $627K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $830K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $627K 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 5,191 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Menominee | Spies Public Library | — | 45 | A |
| Marinette | Marinette County Consolidated Public Library Service | — | 53 | A+ |
| Menominee Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Peshtigo | 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. Spies Public Library serves 9,498 people in and around Menominee, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Menominee.
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 Menominee
Does Menominee have a public library?
Yes. Spies Public Library, 940 First Street, serves 9,498 people in and around Menominee (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Spies 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 Menominee’s library?
It logged 4.8 visits and lent 5.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Menominee’s civic life grade?
A Menominee is ahead of 93% of U.S. towns on civic life, #58 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 Menominee.
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.