Photo: Johnrozsa · CC BY-SA 4.0Oak Park’s library runs 6.7 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Oak Park Public Library serves Oak Park’s 29,560 residents. Last year it lent 104K books, movies and e-books and logged 73K visits.
What Oak Park’s library is like
Every town next door borrows more
Oak Park’s library lends 3.5 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Ferndale at 16. Libraries next door ↓
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, Oak Park Public Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on three. How it compares ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Oak Park Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Four of the five libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
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 Oak Park’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Oak Park is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns, #607 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.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($54K–$89K) 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 →
99 community nonprofits are registered in Oak Park
3.4 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 (64 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.2%
7.2% of Oak Park’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 Oak Park’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Oak Park Public Library serves 29,560 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 41 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
104K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 76K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
22,774 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 kids’ programs a week
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 Oak Park last year.
Find it
Oak Park Public Library, 14200 Oak Park Boulevard, Oak Park.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Oak Park? 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 $1.80 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Oak Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $917K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $917K 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 7,745 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Oak Park ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferndale | Ferndale Public Library fine-free | 16.4 | 58 | A− |
| Berkley | Berkley Public Library fine-free | 9.1 | 51 | A |
| Southfield | Southfield Public Library fine-free | 4.7 | 57 | C |
| Oak Park | Oak Park Public Library | 3.5 | 49 | C |
| Huntington Woods | Huntington Woods Public Library fine-free | — | 53 | A |
| Royal Oak Township | Royal Oak Township Public Library | — | — | C+ |
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 Oak Park
Does Oak Park have a public library?
Yes. Oak Park Public Library, 14200 Oak Park Boulevard, serves Oak Park’s 29,560 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Oak Park 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 Oak Park’s library?
It logged 2.5 visits and lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Oak Park’s civic life grade?
C Oak Park is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns on civic life, #607 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 Oak Park.
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.